


Life After Death

by Zainir



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Draenor, F/F, POV Multiple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-12
Updated: 2015-01-08
Packaged: 2018-02-08 13:14:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1942509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zainir/pseuds/Zainir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two Forsaken live their lives in the time after the siege on Orgrimmar, carving out their own place in the world (or other worlds) as best they can in the strangeness that constantly surrounds them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cold Mornings

The woman sat up in her bed and looked around. She was alone and the air was still inside the room. Gray light filtered in through the window, motes of dust falling slowly down through it. She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms before stretching, her muscles creaking in protest. She ignored them, ignoring the pain that flared through them, ignoring the thought that they were trying to seize up finally after all these years. She twisted back and forth before finally putting her feet on the floor. She hissed softly. It felt like ice against the soles of her feet, stabbing little needles of pain through the skin. She noticed she was becoming more and more sensitive to things like that.

She dressed herself quickly. A pair of brown pants that ended just past her knee. A faded brown shirt, buttoned up to her collarbones. She glanced briefly in the mirror before she went downstairs. Small, bony fingers combed through unnaturally purple hair. The skin under her eyes was dark, contrasting with the rest of her pale face. She sighed softly and continued on her way.

The room downstairs, the large kitchen and eating area, was barely lit by the dying embers of the fire. The shutters had been drawn. The table was clear. The woman walked to the front door and looked down. Her pair of boots sat alone. She put them on and opened the door, looking out at the rain splashing across the muddy yard. She sighed and got down her wide brim hat. It wasn’t much, but it would at least keep the rain off her face.

The woman held a hand out as she walked across the yard. A few drops of rain splashed into her palm and slowly began to vanish, thin and almost invisible wisps of steam rising from them. She shook them off her hand. The village was nearly silent. The rain, her boots, and the murmur of the waves at the coast were all that she could hear. Not many wanted to live so far away from the capital, even less so close to the front lines. If anything happened here, there was no help. But it was quiet and secluded. There were none of the issues that plagued the capital, like the discomfort of politics and the occupation never called an occupation.

She made her way along the slick cobblestones, stopping near the docks at a small house. All the windows were shuttered and it had a look of disrepair that made it seem just as abandoned as the rest, but there was smoke rising from the chimney. She opened the door, only to be stopped as a large blood stained knife thrust out of the dark threshold. The woman took a step back as a hand reached out, long and bony fingers coated in bright blood. It grabbed the door and flung it open.

The woman who came out, and it was certainly a woman despite the heavy clothing, was much taller than the other even as she hunched. Her dull blonde hair was tied in a bun that was barely holding together. She wore a cloth mask that might have once been white but was now crimson. She was wearing robes, heavily spattered in blood, but the way that she had cinched them around her waist had pulled the cloth tight to her body. It accentuated her breasts and her near lack of anything else; her scrawny arms were a telling glimpse of her physique.

The woman in the hat simply raised her hand and wiggled her fingers in a wave. “Hello, Jude,” she said, smiling warmly.

“Oh, Alice. Hello,” Jude said as she lowered her arm and stood up straight, looking down at the shorter woman, “I thought you were someone else.”

Jude turned and walked back inside, Alice following in her wake. Alice made sure to shut and bolt the door behind them. The air smelled of meat, raw and fresh and rich and bloody. It lay over top the sickly sweet scent of rot and the acrid tang of chemicals. Jude walked past a few tables drenched in blood, dropping her knife on to one of them. Alice didn’t bother to ask about any of it. She tried once and it took her a week to stop being confused. What Jude did here was beyond Alice’s ability to understand.

The blood stained woman led Alice into a back room. A small stove burned low, bundles of herbs in its coals giving off a floral scent that did just enough to cover the smells from the other room. Jude sat down and removed her mask, leaving a light pink ring around her mouth and nose that stood out sharply from her pale skin.

“How long have you been out here?” Alice asked. She picked up a log and fed it into the stove. Watching it, she reached her hand out and flicked her first two fingers upward and the fire flared back to life.

“Oh, not long,” Jude said with a smile.

“Since before dawn, then,”

Jude shrugged sheepishly and smiled as Alice reached out to brush her thumb against Jude’s cheek, wiping at the film of blood on her skin.

“Silly darling, why?” Alice said as she sat down next to the other woman. She began to wipe the blood from Jude’s face with her fingers. Alice looked it briefly on her fingers, pursing her lips in thought. It was cold and getting that unappealing stickiness to it, so she simply wiped it off onto her pants.

“I had a thought last night and needed to come try it out,” Jude said. She closed her eyes as she let Alice clean her off. “I ran out of...a lot of stuff, though.”

“Stuff? Like what?”

“Herbs..”

“I can get you those.”

“A lot of herbs.”

“More than I can carry?”

“Maybe.”

Alice paused in thought and then leaned in, licking a spot of blood from the corner of Jude’s lips.

“Hm, so more herbs than an Alice can carry,” she said as she sat back, “Anything else?”

“Bodies.”

“I can always bring you more. Not like the hills aren’t crawling with Gilneans.”

“I need more than them.”

“Oh. Well, then I can’t do that either.”

“I know…”

Alice sighed, running her fingers through her hair. “I dunno. The nearest body market is…”

“Undercity.”

“I certainly can’t get a body back here from the capital before it rots.”

“No, I know. So I was thinking…”

“Yes?”

Jude took a breath. “That we should move back to the city for awhile.”

Alice looked away, watching the fire instead. Jude reached out to touch her hand and Alice sighed.

“Move back to Undercity. It makes sense. Makes your life easier.”

“But it isn’t just my life,” Jude said, frowning with concern.

Alice shrugged and stood up, grabbing hold of Jude’s hand. The taller woman followed her lover out of the back room and back outside into the cold drizzle of rain that was still falling. Jude followed quietly and stood in the hallway once they returned home. Alice began to search for something, dragging out boxes and crates filled with an assortment of things.

“Alice, what are you doing?” Jude asked, walking a few steps into the main room, “And I meant it. This isn’t just about me and I want you to be happy too. I know how you feel about the city.”

“That it is full of fanatics? And hateful orcs? And the sorrow and anger and the fact that everyone just feeds back into it?”

“Yes, like that.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Alice said as she dragged out a large crate. She opened it up and began to sort through large, leather bound books. “You aren’t going without me.”

Jude walked over and sat on a box next to Alice. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and leaned forward slightly. “What are you doing?”

“Looking through our stuff.”

“I can see that. Why?”

“We need to decide what to take.”

“Already? I didn’t even think we decided we were going!”

“Well, we are. I won’t be some terrible wife and hold you back.”

Jude opened her mouth to reply but thought better of it, sighing softly instead. She reached out to brush her fingers through Alice’s dark purple hair. “Alright, so why so soon?”

“Because its a long ride to the city,” Alice told her. She stopped her searching at Jude’s touch, turning to look up at her wife.

“...Ride?”

“Yes, I’ll go find us a wagon in the morning and we can go.”

“In the morning? A wagon? Wait, Alice. First, why can’t you take us there like normal? Magic us.”

“If you only wanted the stuff in your pockets, then I could. But do you want to leave all of this behind?”

“No, of course not.”

“I’m not strong enough to take everything at once. It would take me weeks to bring everything. Only a few days by road to the city, though.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize.”

Alice shrugged. “It would take someone many, many times stronger than me to be able to teleport all of our collections along.”

“If you can’t do it, I can’t imagine anyone could.”

Alice laughed and shook her head. She leaned in close to Jude and pressed a kiss to her mouth. Her hands lightly rest on Jude’s waist as Jude wound her arms around Alice to hold her close.

“Flattery will get you everywhere you want, Doctor,” Alice murmured as she drew back.

“Come on, my love, we can save this for the morning,” Jude said, standing up from her seat.

“Morning? Its barely even afternoon yet,” Alice said as she smiled at Jude in amusement.

Jude reached down, uncurling her long fingers slowly as she offered her hand to Alice. Her lips curled into a playful smile. “Oh, I am well aware. Come upstairs with me and in the morning, we can pack.”

Alice smiled back and slipped her smaller hand into Jude’s. 

* * *

 

The room was filled with bloody red light as the sun set outside the window. Alice watched shadows dance on the walls, the outlines of Jude’s fingers as she raised her hand through the air. Alice lay on her side, one leg between Jude’s and one arm across Jude’s midsection. Her fingers lightly traced across Jude’s ribs and down her side, brushing along the protrusion of Jude’s hip. Alice was thin beyond thin, her arms and legs too lean and her skin clinging to her bones. No curves, just narrow hips and a flat chest. Jude, though, in some ways seemed thinner than than Alice. Maybe it was just perception, a trick caused by the few appreciable curves Jude did have. Curves made more prominent by how meager the rest of her looked.

Jude dropped her hand back down, letting it rest on Alice’s upper arm. The window was open and the breeze that blew in was getting colder, but Alice’s skin was warm enough that the two lay without blankets.It was her afterglow, a radiating heat greater than even a living person should have had. Passion faded into contentment, so the little flame at the core of her being became the fire of a hearth instead of a raging inferno.

“Why were you so eager to go back to Undercity?” Jude asked softly. She brushed her fingers lightly along Alice’s arm.

“Because you wanted to go.”

“No, I need to go if I want to keep working. You were trying to get me to go immediately,” Jude said, “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

Alice sighed and moved so she lay on top of Jude, eye to eye for a moment before the mage sat up. She straddled Jude’s hips, hands running across Jude’s stomach and up to caress her breasts. Jude gasped and grabbed Alice’s wrists, drawing her hands away.

“No, you’re not going to distract me again,” Jude muttered as Alice pouted.

“Maybe I just really want you to be happy and successful and know that you can only do that in Undercity,” Alice said almost petulantly, “Did you think of that?”

“Yes, of course I did.”

“Oh…”

“I just want to make sure everything is alright. And that we’re leaving for the right reasons. I don’t want you to feel obligated and if you do, I want to know why. Or has something happened?” Jude asked as she gently placed replaced Alice’s hands on her breasts, “Please, tell me.”

Alice looked down at Jude and sighed. “Alright. I have been hearing rumors when I’m out. A lot of stuff is getting ready to happen and I think it is best we leave here.”

“What kind of things?” Jude asked, her brow furrowed.

“Well, the Alliance wants Gilneas back. And badly,” Alice said. She bowed her head and ran her hands through her hair, “Things are happening. I don’t know much, only what trickles down. There could be a fleet here within a few months, ready to take back Gilneas and march toward Undercity. Worse, Dalaran may be coming back. Then, on top of that, there is still a lot of tension back in Orgrimmar. The Dark Lady only knows how its going to spill over here. The elves are cutting themselves off from everyone and we may not have any allies here anymore.”

“Thats a lot,” Jude said. She paused a moment, watching Alice closely. “There’s something else...none of that is enough to make you leave so quick.”

Alice leaned backward and groaned at the ceiling. “Why do you know me so well?”

“It’s my job.”

“I thought your job was to do science while wearing tight and revealing outfits.”

“I can have multiple jobs!”

“Alright, alright. Fine,” Alice muttered, “Do you remember the fighting in Dalaran I told you about?”

“Yes.”

“Well, some of the Sunreavers broke into the vaults and stole more than a few objects,” Alice said, her hands returning to caress Jude, “Since they weren’t doing it under orders, they sort of vanished instead of going straight to Silvermoon. But some of of them are making their way to Undercity very soon.”

“And you want one.”

“Oh. Oh yes. So very, very much.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me all of this?”

“I don’t know! I just thought that, you know, we have such a nice life here. I like it, you like it. I don’t want to destroy it all so quickly,” Alice said. She wrapped her arms around her midsection almost protectively. “But when you said you wanted to go...well, it was my chance, right? I guess I over did it.”

“A little,” Jude said. She smiled and reached up to caress Alice’s cheek.

Alice leaned into the touch, her eyes closing. Jude pulled her down and kissed her softly, Alice’s dark hair falling around their faces. Jude ran her hands along Alice’s back before clasping them between her shoulder blades, holding the smaller woman in place.

“Don’t be mad,” Alice murmured, her breath warm against Jude’s lip.

“I’m not mad, my love. I know you want to keep me safe and warm and happy, but that doesn’t mean you should hide so much from me,” Jude said before kissing Alice again. Alice pulled away and Jude let her sit back up, running her hands down Alice’s arms. She hummed softly as she took Alice’s hands in her own before singing quietly. “You are my monster…”

Alice shook her head, a surprised laugh escaping her lips.

“My dearest monster,” Jude continued.

“You’re really going to?” Alice asked, tilting her head to the side.

Jude simply smiled. “When you go to pieces,

I pick you up.

You burn so brightly,

down deep inside you,

that you chase all my cold nights away.”

Alice began to giggle as Jude finished, the doctor squeezing Alice’s hands affectionately. She continued to hum, watching the little mage as she calmed back down. Jude reached long fingers up to caress Alice’s cheek as Alice began to sing to the same tune, her voice soft and higher pitched than Jude’s.

“You are my true love,

my one and only.

When I’m without you,

I waste away.

But I know that,

no matter how long,

you’ll always be back with me again.”

“You should sing more,” Jude said, her eyes glowing a soft yellow in the now dark room.

“Oh? Well, maybe I have one more for you.”

Jude raised her eyebrows inquisitively as Alice screwed up her face in thought. After a moment, she looked at Jude with heavy lidded eyes. Her voice was lower as she sang slowly.

“I am your Alice.”

She slipped slowly from her perch on Jude’s waist and moved backward until her back hit the slatted footboard of the bed.

“You are my keeper.”

Alice wound her arms through the slats so that she thrust her chest outward.

“When you tease me.”

She drew her knees up, pressing her legs together and splaying her feet out to the sides slightly.

“I moan real loud.”

She watched as Jude sat up and slowly moved onto her hands and knees in front of Alice.

“We have a long night,

and I’m not sleepy,

so fuck me until the moon goes away.”

With a playful smile, she spread her knees, looking at Jude between them. The tall blond lunged forward at Alice while outside the moon rose up out of the ocean.

* * *

 

The shadows were starting to lengthen by the time the wagon had been loaded. Crate after crate had been loaded underneath the leather tarp. Boxes and bags full of books and papers, research that both of the women had done in different areas. Last to go in were the crates full of curios and strange items, hundreds of objects Alice had collected in her travels through the world. There were many valuable bits and most were exotic enough to fetch a decent price if they ever needed the coin.

Alice tied the back of the tarp down just as the rain began to fall in a light mist. She pulled herself up onto the seat where Jude was waiting for her. The doctor was bundled up tightly against the cold. She wore her heavy robes and a pair of gloves, a scarf wrapped around the lower half of her face and draped over her shoulders. A wide brim hat was pulled down so that all Alice could see of her face was the soft glow of her yellow eyes. Alice wore her usual clothes, the kind of clothes a person would wear in the middle of the summer. Jude looked at her and cocked her head to the side before she picked up the reins and urged the skeletal horses forward.

The beasts, made of bone and bits of mummified skin and dark cloth, started down the road. Their hooves clapped noisily against the cobblestones and they snorted in irritation at the rain. Alice didn’t really think they could feel it and just did it because some faded memory told them to. The pair rode silently, Jude focused on her own thoughts. Alice began flicking drops of flame from her fingertips up into the air. They sizzled in the rain, bursting into white smoke and dissipating. She had to stop, though, when she overestimated herself and a large blob of magic flame fell onto Jude’s hat. Jude pulled her hat off and frantically swatted it against the side of the wagon, her eyes wide. When she put it back on, it smoked faintly in the cold air. Alice smiled sheepishly under Jude’s glare and the pair rode quietly as the massive and broken gates of the Greymane Wall rose up before them.


	2. Shadows in the Forest

One of the very few things that could be considered good about being dead was the need for so little rest. The horses could go on for weeks, maybe forever if anyone pushed them that far. Jude and Alice were different as they still had minds that still required rest even if their bodies didn’t. Late into the third day, as the darkness began to trickle down from the trees and pool on the road, they pulled over. Not far from the road, they parked the wagon and Alice set fire to a bundle of wood Jude collected.

“Where are we?” Jude said, leaning against one of the wagon’s wheels.

Alice looked upward, rather pointlessly.The trees wove together high above them in a tight mesh.The few spots where the sky could be seen showed nothing by dark clouds tinged with a faint green.

“Close to Sepulcher, I think,” Alice said after a moment. She jabbed at the fire with a crooked stick she found, “Been awhile since I rode this way. Should be there before tomorrow night, though. Earlier, I hope.”

The mage looked around them with a frown. It’d be easier to estimate if she had any idea where they were. She’d been through Silverpine Forest dozens of times, but it had been a long time since then. And now, in the dark, the fog was closing in. She had watched it curl around the trees and sink down along the ground, rolling in off of Lordamere Lake. If she could see anything, she’d feel better about her estimate. More importantly, she’d feel better in believing they were safe here.

“You’ve been awake longer than me, my love,” Alice said, stretching her arms over her head. Her shoulders protested with a pair of soft popping sounds. “Get some rest. I’ll keep watch.”

Alice smiled, but some of her worry must have shown. Jude looked a little uneasy but  did as Alice suggested. Not long after she curled up in her bedroll, the doctor was asleep. It was not an easy thing to determine with a Forsaken, but Alice had a tendency to be restless late at night and had more than once watched her beloved sleep.

As the night went on, the forest spoke. Branches creaked, leaves rustled. The wind whispered around the trees and the occasional moan rose up as it brushed across the hollow of a tree. The fire crackled and hissed as it tried to burn through the mist and the mist sizzled and spat as it tried to douse the flames. The fire would win this one. It would burn until Alice told it to stop. She sat quietly on a flat stone near the flames, her hands stretched out toward the warmth. She didn’t need the fire to warm herself, but better to play the role of the everyday traveler in case anyone was watching.

And she was certain now that someone was watching.

* * *

 

The moon strained to make its presence known as the night went on. Light filtered down through the trees only to be scattered by the mist. The swirls and eddies in the fog made dark shapes that moved and vanished, multiplied and combined. A branch snapped. A bush rustled in a different direction. A hulking shape appeared and vanished in a third direction. Alice stood slowly and looked out into the forest. She really hoped she was being paranoid. Her fingertips ignited as she held them in front of her chest, burning like a cluster of candles. She swept her arms out in front of her and the flames launched from her fingertips as burning darts. They didn’t clear the fog, but they cut through it and sent it swirling around in chaos, enough for the flickering lights to show her what was out there. Glowing eyes, glinting steel, and dark fur.

Worgen.

The mage stepped backwards, kicking her heel sharply into Jude’s sleeping form. The woman woke with a snarl, but she quieted when she saw Alice standing over her with flames burning in her hands. Jude stood slowly, careful not to make any sudden motions. She drew a long wicked looking dagger from somewhere and held it in front of her.

There was a low growl from the mist that turned into a slow, rumbling chuckle. A massive Worgen, a wolf-man creature that was much more wolf than man, strolled into the fire light. He was taller than Jude even as he hunched forward. He was covered in thick reddish-brown fur and his muzzle was heavily scarred, leaving his teeth bared permanently on one side.

“Are you lost, little corpses?” he said in a low growl.

“No, so just run along,” Alice said, “We don’t need a guide.”

The big worgen shook his head, resting a heavy blade on his shoulder. “No, you must be lost because this is Gilnean land.”

“That’s odd. I’m pretty sure we murdered your families so it would stop being Gilnean land,” Alice said with a smirk, her face illuminated by her flames. As the worgen gnashed their teeth, she whispered over her shoulder to Jude. “Get to the wagon. We may be leaving quickly.”

Jude took a step backwards and one of the worgen charged toward them. Alice flung the fireball she had been readying and caught the wolf man in the side of the head, sending him tumbling across the ground. The scent of burning hair filled the clearing as Alice began casting again. The lead worgen was faster than she was. Before the spell could leave her hands, he was in her face. He grabbed her hands, yanking one into the air hard enough to force Alice on her tiptoes. The spell fizzled, leaving nothing but wisps of smoke behind.

“That’s enough from you,” the worgen said in a growl.

Alice inhaled sharply and her cheeks bulged out. Looking up at her captor, she exhaled a gout of brightly coloured orange and blue flame that roared up into the air and spattered into grass like a burning oil. Her lips cracked from the heat, the air shimmering around her face where the flames burned blue. As the fire curled away, she could see that the Gilnean had moved to the side before she released her flame. The fur on his face was burnt, in some places down to the skin so that she could see the blisters already forming there. Her own hand stung, held too close to the flame as it was. Deep burns bubbled to life on the back of her hand and wrist.

The worgen raised his hand, the look on his face making it clear he intended to simply rip her head off with his claws. He was interrupted when a heavy form crashed into him and sent the worgen and forsaken crashing to the ground. Alice shook her head as she clambered to her feet, looking surprised to see another worgen furiously attacking their leader. Just faintly, she could see tendrils of purple darkness extending from the attacking worgen that lead all the way back to Jude like puppet-strings. The doctor was grinning, crouched down on top of the wagon. Alice reached out and touched Jude’s puppet worgen, leaving a burning sigil on its back before she moved closer to the wagon. The other worgen had begun to move, regaining their senses after the first few odd seconds.

When the sigil Alice had left behind finally exploded, tearing a burning hole out through the back of the unfortunate worgen, the others attacked. One leaped up onto the cart only to be met by Jude. She waved a hand at him and the Gilnean began to scream, his claws tearing at his own face. Jude stepped up and slit his throat in one clean motion, leaving him to bleed to death against the wooden planks. Alice caught another in the chest with an explosion like a gun blast, sending the attacker tumbling into the underbrush. She turned to check on Jude. Another three dead lay at her feet and her clothes were splashed with blood. She was grinning and dark purple shadows were swirling around her body and fanning out around her. Another worgen tried to attack her but was assaulted by whatever invisible tortures Jude decided to inflict. She left them screaming and flailing on the grass as she moved to stand next to Alice.

“Any more?” the doctor said, looking hopeful.

“Just one,” Alice said, pointing at the lead Gilnean. Burnt and bloodied and battered, but the man was still alive and angry. “Hold him still.”

Jude happily complied and the worgen found himself unable to move. She stretched his arms out wide so that his chest was exposed. With a smirk, Alice began to conjure up her last spell. Fire swirled and grew in her hands, first as a fireball and then something bigger.

“This is Forsaken land,” she said in a hiss, “and you should have known your place in the world, mongrel.”

The worgen couldn’t answer and couldn’t speak at all unless Jude let him. Alice didn’t care. She let her spell fly and a fireball the size of a boulder rocketed forward from her hands. It smashed into the Gilnean, the flames nearly as tall as he was, and exploded. Fire roared upward and outward, the heat washing out over the whole clearing but Alice barely felt it. When it finally cleared away, there was nothing left of the man or their campsite. The fog began to fill the air again, returning to its proper place now that the fire was gone.

Alice turned to Jude and smiled. “Don’t know about you, but don’t think I can sleep now.”

The blond woman nodded in agreement. The pair gathered up the few things they needed that hadn’t been destroyed, checking to see if anything important had been incinerated. Content that everything was accounted for, they loaded the wagon again and hitched the horses back up. The skeletal creatures were sleepless, requiring absolutely nothing to continue their existence. They were also wonderfully unphased by the violence that had occurred around them. With a slight shake of the reins, the pair set back out on the road. 

* * *

 

By the time the sun began to rise across Tirisfal Glades, they found themselves at the edge of the forest. Sometime after midday, they stopped and stared up at  the gates to Capital City. Below this dead city was a city of undeath. Alice and Jude were home again, even if neither of them really wished to be. But necessity overcame discomfort and unease and they guided the horses through the gates. Alice disliked having to drive them through the throne room and the crypt of their long dead king, but there was no other easy way into the city. The guards, still orcs with a hatred for the Forsaken, glared at them as they waited for the elevator. Any excuse to harm one of the undead was enough for these orcs, these supposed elite of the Horde.

The massive magically powered elevator bore them down deep below the earth in silence. The Undercity, once a network of crypts and prisons, had never ceased expanding since it was claimed by Lady Sylvanas and the first of her Deathguard. Forsaken tired much slower than the living races and those with damaged brains were the perfect drudges. Alice led the horses away from the central commons, deeper into the newer sections of the city. Something akin to neighborhoods had developed, small communities of crypt-like apartments and homes set into the dark, dank rock of Tirisfal.

Their community had been marked with the symbol of a meat hook. The favoured weapon of their lost Abomination guards, it was set above the archway that led into the cluster of homes. Each door was numbered and marked with the same weapon. Jude laughed under her breath.

“The meat hook district? Sometimes I worry about how uncreative our people are,” she said with a slight shake of her head.

Alice shrugged. “I figure they just don’t care. I’m surprised they didn’t just use letters. A1, B2...”

Their new home was simple and much smaller than their last. A small bedroom set aside from the main room and that was all. They unloaded their large collections of crates and bags and bundles, stacking them around the room where they could. It would be cramped, but it isn’t as if they were planning dinner parties.

Alice left to take the horses to the stables and hopefully sell them off. Jude stayed behind, looking through their belongings and organizing those which mattered. Her and Alice’s books and journals; the small samples she had brought with her for research; Alice’s robes and Jude’s own work clothes. The rest could stay where it was for now. Most of it was meant to be sold off if they needed to.

Satisfied for the time being, Jude went to lay on the bed. It was a hard and thin mattress, so unlike the one they found back in Gilneas, but she was sure they could fix that. Things like that would be considered frivolities here, but it was nice to be comfortable when they finally rest and beyond that, this was not a bed meant for much intimacy. She heard the door open and shut, but heard no footsteps. A moment later, Alice slipped into the bed with her. Their arms wound around each other and they both sighed quietly. For now they were safe as they could be and for now they were still together. They had gotten used to seeing one another nearly every day but they still knew how it felt to spend months apart. As Alice pressed her lips to Jude’s the concerns slipped away. They’d be back but for now all she could think about was her beloved.


	3. The Dark Past

A few months crawled by. Jude spent much of her time in a small, cramped lab she managed to rent in the Apothecarium. Alice fell back into work as a mercenary, spending her time between incinerating enemies of the Forsaken to try and gather any information at all about magical items. Things were not going as she had planned or expected.

“I guess things changed after he escaped,” Alice said as they lay in bed on a rare night together. She was referring to their deposed Warchief as Jude lay behind her and gently massaged her back. “Instead of being angry at eachother, they’re angry at him. They want him found. They want him dead.”

“Less war is good. You know they’d march right here first,” Jude said. She rolled Alice onto her stomach and moved to sit on the girl’s upper thighs. Her hands ran slowly along either side of Alice’s prominent spine. “Have you heard anything about your relics?”

Alice sighed in irritation but the sound melted into one of contentment at Jude’s caresses.

“No. The damned Kirin Tor are faster than I expected.”

“I’m sorry, love. What are you going to do now?”

“Well, I wanted to talk to you about that,” Alice said, looking back over her shoulder, “There have been orc attacks down near the Dark Portal and they’ve spread up even past the human lands. They say its Garrosh, though I don’t know. But you know how much the Dark Lady wants him dead. She’s sending zeppelins and a fleet from Gilneas down to Stranglethorn. But word has gone out for mercenaries...and it isn’t exactly a request. A lot of gold for it, but more an order than anything.”

“You’re going to go?”

“I don’t think I have a choice, really. It won’t be long. I can’t honestly imagine it’s anything more than some renegade orc clan.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Jude said as she leaned down to kiss Alice’s neck. She slid a hand between their bodies and ran it down Alice’s back. The words on Alice’s lips died, replaced by a soft gasp when Jude’s hand slipped between her thighs. There was no more discussion that night.

* * *

 

Alice had been gone for two months without word when Jude found the note. It lay atop her pile of books and journals. She picked it up, glanced at it quickly, and went to the bedroom to look for whoever had left it. It wasn’t there when she had left today but no one was there now. Nothing seemed missing but only one other person had a key. She frowned as she sat down to read.

_Jude,_

_I’m sorry I haven’t written you. It is difficult to explain what has happened so it is easier to show you._

_Wait in the apartment for me in exactly one week. Bring only what you can carry and only things you cannot easily replace. I know you and you’re going to want to research everything._

_One week. If we miss this, I do not know when I will be able to come back for you._

_Yours eternally,_

_Alice_

Jude sat for a moment, staring at the letter. If Alice had come back to leave this, why didn’t she just stay and wait for Jude? She trusted Alice enough to know there was some important reason, but it still stung just a little. She shook her head. She was being silly. Something was happening and Alice was coming to take her along. Jude folded up the letter and tucked it into her robes before she began to pack.

 

The week passed far too slowly for Jude’s liking. She was packed a few hours after she had gotten the letter, though the intervening time had allowed her to remember things she might possibly have use for. In the end, she waited in the living room of their home with four heavy bags and her robe stuffed full of items. She may have barely been able to carry it all, but she wasn’t breaking Alice’s stipulation. The minutes ticked past at a snail’s pace and Jude began to wonder if she had the right time. Alice didn’t say a time, but Jude assumed it would be the time she got the letter. Of course, how would Alice know when she had gotten home? Maybe she was--

Jude felt it before she could see it. Magic coursed through the air like electricity, causing the hair on her neck to stand on end. She had been near Alice when the little mage had cast powerful spells and this felt similar, but there was something strange to it. It was far stronger than anything Jude had seen Alice use and it had a raw edge to it, almost as if it was magic used for brute force. A few flashes of light flickered in front of her and a wind kicked up in the room, sending all of their unsecured papers fluttering about like injured birds. Finally, reality seemed to give way and the very air in front of her was rent apart. It was a portal, but unlike the usual smooth circular shape they usually held, this was more like a jagged tear or a crack in the world.

“Come along, my love! I can’t keep this for much longer!”

Alice’s voice was strained, but it was her. Jude hesitated only briefly, unable to see where this strange portal was going to lead her. In the end, she took a deep breath and stepped through. The sensation was horrific. She felt as though she were being pulled apart at the seams as she hurtled through the strange corridors that magic opened up. She clutched her bags tighter to her body and without warning, it ended. She found herself standing in a swirling cloud of dust that obscured everything around her save for the small magician standing nearby. Alice was panting heavily, but her eyes, which were all Jude could see of her, shone brightly. The mage was completely covered in strange armor, a cowl and mask covering her hair and face. Her robes were tattered and dirty, spattered with blood and dirt. They also had odd patches of what looked like dark leather sewn to them in various spots. Before she could ask, Jude glanced up at the sky and her words caught in her throat.

With the dust cleared, she could see the almost faded blue of the sky. Sitting in the center of it was a truly massive moon that seemed almost close enough to touch. Craters and valleys covered its white-purple surface. In front of her, the world dropped away into a valley filled with trees, their branches interconnecting to form a bright orange canopy. She looked around, dropping her bags as she spun on her heel. She was in some sort of fort, a military fortification filled with dozens of people. Most of them were Forsaken, but a few among them were elf, troll, goblin, and even orc. The buildings, of which there were more than a few, were constructed in the usual Forsaken style of dark stone and wood and twisting metal. She watched a group of Forsaken laborers hauling dull gray stone to a new construction site where a slight Forsaken woman was waving a wand across other materials and magically staining them a dark, almost black, purple.

“Alice, what...what is this? Where are we?”

Alice laughed softly for a moment and reached out to take Jude’s arm. She looped her own through it and directed Jude to look back over the valley, waving her hand out dramatically.

“Judethia Redgrave, welcome to Draenor.”

Jude started in surprise. “Draenor is dead.”

“Yes, it is. Our Draenor is. But this is not our Draenor,” Alice said cryptically, “Think of it as a Draenor that could have been, but never was. This is Draenor years before the First War but without the influence of demons. There is more to it than that, but it really doesn’t matter right now. It just gets confusing.”

It was already confusing. Jude was not dumb by any stretch of the imagination, but she was a doctor and a researcher. This was...she honestly didn’t know what this was. She would surely understand it in time, but right now it felt like being awoken from a deep sleep and told to perform complicated surgery. It was like being raised from the dead and told to enjoy your new life. She laughed inwardly at that last one with a little bit of bitterness.

While she was trying to recover, a pair of elves had wandered over to them. One was a woman in heavy plate armor, coloured the deep crimson and black of a Blood Knight. The other was a willowy looking male in the robes of a priest. Both of them wore a trio of emblems on their chest. One was the symbol of the Horde, the second the phoenix emblem of the Blood Elves. The third, though, was one she had never seen before. It was a Lordaeron tombstone coloured crimson and wreathed in flames. Jude furrowed her brow but was distracted by the Blood Knight.

“Executor Corvin,” the elf woman said with a quick salute, “I have word that the raid you sent north was successful. They should be bringing back nearly everything you requested.”

“Wonderful news, it would not have gone nearly as well without your help.”

“You flatter me, Executor,” the elf said with a small bow of her head. She glanced at Jude. “Might I ask who our new guest is?”

“Of course! Champion Kelira, meet Lady Redgrave,” Alice said with a smile in her voice.

“Ah, Lady Redgrave,” Kelira said as she bowed deeply, “It is lovely to finally meet our namesake.”

Jude bowed awkwardly in return, surprise tingeing her movements. She could think of no reply to the paladin but she seemed not to need one. Alice dismissed her and, after another salute, the woman was striding across the courtyard with the little priest on her heels. Jude turned to look at her wife, a hundred questions competing for the right to be asked. Alice laughed softly and nodded.

“I’ll explain everything. Come with me,” she said gently, caressing Jude’s arm. She turned her head and shouted. “Jorvith, come take Lady Redgrave’s bags up to my quarters.”

A Forsaken in civilian clothing jogged over, quickly gave the two-armed salute of the Forsaken, and was gone with Jude’s bags without even a word. Alice watched him go for a moment before she lead Jude across the garrison, humming quietly as her lover tried to take in every sight and sound and smell she could. They stopped near the gate which lead out into the wilds Jude had never imagined existed on Draenor. Beyond them was a forest that was both bright and warm, like it was stuck in a perpetual autumn, yet somehow was also dark and primeval. Alice turned them both to look back at the garrison. Jude could see several workshops, a smithy included, a barracks, a tall and crooked tower standing next to a fortified town center, and even a mine.

“Welcome to Fort Redgrave,” Alice said with a soft laugh.

Jude blinked and tightened her grip on Alice’s arm. “You named it after us.”

“Well, after you. I’m Corvin here since I knew you were coming. Two Lady Redgraves seemed confusing. It took some threats since I came with mostly Forsaken. They wanted to name it after the Dark Lady.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t.”

Alice looked at Jude, only the yellow glow of her eyes visible. Jude noticed that one seemed dimmer than the other.

“You’re more important,” Alice said simply before pointing across the yard, “We named the tavern after her, at least. Though now that I think about it, we probably shouldn’t ever mention that back home.”

They stood in silence for a few minutes. Jude watched the people who moved across the yard and the workers at their forges or mills. Alice leaned against her slightly, half closing her eyes as she waited for Jude to finish surveying. She felt content for the first time in a long time and it was nearly lulling her to sleep while standing. She was jerked out of her rest when Jude started and gasped. Alice followed her gaze and smiled. A pair of towering ogres in heavy armor marched through the open gates, followed by a small group of brown-skinned orcs. They led a large beast hitched to a wagon. Each of them was wearing the garrison emblem.

“Kurok! Garl!” Alice said as she moved toward them. One of the ogres looked over and stopped. With a grunt, he smacked his hand against his companion’s arm and pointed over at Alice. The entire group came to a halt as they waited. “Did everything go well?”

“Of course, my Lady. Too easy, like squashing bugs,” one of them said in a rough voice.

“You always say that. If I asked you to conquer Draenor for me, Kurok, you’d say it was too easy,” Alice said, placing her hands on her hips. Jude noted there was amusement and almost something like affection in her voice.

“Need to find stronger worlds then.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Get all of that over to the lab,” Alice said while motioning to the cart, “It goes in storage two. Then go get your pay from Zira.”

Kurok grunted in reply. He didn’t bow or salute like any of the others had and like the orcs did now, but there was something about the towering brute of a creature, maybe something in his stance or the way he looked at Alice, that just made him seem respectful. Jude was staring in near shock when Alice turned back to her. The ogres and their followers continued on their way and Alice took Jude’s hand.

“We should talk before your head explodes with questions,” Alice said with a smile as she lead Jude to the odd building that looked like a keep and a meeting hall had been fused together.

 

“Ogres?” Jude said, blurting out the question the moment she sat down on Alice’s bed.

“Yes, ogres. They are some of my best fighters. Clever and brutal and almost too smart for their own good. Well, Kurok more so but he refuses to go anywhere without Garl. A shame the ones back home are so stupid.”

Alice pulled a chair up to sit across from Jude and watched her quietly for a few minutes. Jude was looking around the room as she tried to sort out her thoughts. It was a small room that tried to be cozy. The bed was soft enough, the fireplace small, and the walls mostly barren. There were, however, a large number of books and too few shelves. It might take awhile, but Jude intended to read every one of them.

“You’ve done a lot in only two months,” Jude said finally, awe and pride creeping into her voice. She looked at Alice, the small woman lounging as well as the chair and her robe would allow, and smiled.  
“Because it hasn’t been two months. I’ve been here a year,” Alice said. She rubbed her cheek through her mask and sighed when Jude looked at her in confusion. “I didn’t want you to wait without me a year. I know how that feels, I did it here. Our world and this one are connected at specific points in time...but because of the strangeness that occurs when you link two very distant points together, I was able to...reach backward when I made the portal.”

Jude cocked her head to the side, her brows furrowed.

Alice sighed again and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Just know it is hard to do and that the next time you go home, ten extra months will have passed there.”

“A year,” Jude said slowly, looking at Alice. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “I guess that explains the robes then.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean. You’re too smart to play dumb,” Jude said as she folded her arms across her breasts, “Take your robes off.”

Alice hesitated a moment but she knew there would be no avoiding it. She stood slowly and did as she was told and removed her clothing. It was all Jude could do not to cry out when Alice was finished. Where there had once been a woman who was frail but as healthy as a Forsaken could be, now there was a tattered and abused corpse. She recognized Alice’s handy work. Thick dark stitches crisscrossed back and forth across Alice’s body, mingled with the off colored scars and burn marks that littered her thighs and torso. She had hidden two missing fingers with her gloves. Skin that wasn’t even her own and may even have just been random leather covered one of her breasts, sewn to her chest with a sloppiness born of desperation. Not a single bit of her torso or thighs went unmarked and even her sweet, round face did not escape the trauma. Her cheek had been torn open from the corner of her mouth all the back back to her ear and then up across her eye to her forehead. Some of it had been sewn shut but the rest had been cauterized and Jude suddenly understood the strange dimness in her wife’s eye.

“Oh, Alice…”


	4. Home Is Where We Keep The Bodies

The lab was everything Jude could have hoped for and far more than she expected to find so far from civilization. The room itself was smooth, dark stone lit with bright lanterns. The light gleamed off the of three metal tables, each with trenches molded into the sides that lead to drains. Every medical tool Jude could think of off the top of her head filled cabinets and shelves lining the walls and in the back of the room were three marked doors. Jude opened the one marked with a large two and smiled as she looked in side. At least a dozen human bodies were lying on slabs in a room that was ice cold, chilled by a mixture of goblin technology and magic. She found a small stone that pulsed with magic sitting in a dish by the door. She picked it up and felt her entire body become lighter. She placed it on one of the bodies and easily moved the corpse out into the main room, setting it up on one of the tables.

Alice lay naked on another slab, staring up at the ceiling while she waited. She didn’t move when Jude approached her with the scalpel. She didn’t move when Jude began cutting through the stitches and the scars to leave her body open and exposed and nearly in pieces. She didn’t make a sound when the doctor cut away sections of her skin to leave behind sections of visible muscle that leaked dark fluid. She clenched her hands into fists when Jude approached with what looked to Alice like a sharpened serving spoon, but she didn’t cry out when Jude removed her damaged eye and left behind a socket filling with ichor.

Jude said nothing either. She focused on moving as quickly as she could while doing as little damage as necessary. Alice was a disaster after her year away. Jude had never seen her in such a woeful condition and it hurt her heart to see. She masterfully removed skin from the cadavers she was supplied, pinning them onto Alice’s body. When she was satisfied, she channeled the Light through her fingers, ignoring the pain that it caused as it burned her own flesh from the inside, and used it to sear the grafts onto her wife. She paused a moment in thought at the eye, but even that was replaced with little trouble. Alice blinked a few times when it was complete and then smiled. Jude let out a sigh of relief and gave them both a few moments of rest before Alice turned onto her stomach.

The little mage’s back was almost worse than her front. There were no stitches here since Alice could not reach, so any wounds had been sealed with the magic flames that coursed through Alice’s body. Her entire back was nearly a giant scar where she had self cauterized any injury. In the end, Jude simply skinned her from neck to hips and Alice whimpered for the first time.

“I couldn’t make you match, so you’ll have to take care of that,” Jude said as she finally sat down. She rubbed her hands over her face and tried to ignore the pain in her hands and the creeping mental exhaustion.

Alice sat up and flexed her hands, enjoying having an entire set of fingers again. Her entire body hurt, not only from having it sliced to ribbons but the touch of the Light on her flesh was an agony that the living would never know. She looked down at herself and nodded. She looked like a patchwork quilt, but at least she had functioning hands, a new eye, and her left breast back even if her nipples didn’t match in color.

“You are my saviour, Jude. Without you I would just crumble into ash,” Alice said as she slipped off the table. She pulled most of her clothing back on, hiding her new skin. “I think we both need to relax.”

Jude hadn’t noticed the little room that branched off from Alice’s bedroom. A metal tub large enough for an orc sat in the center and had already been filled with water. Jude ran her fingers through it as Alice followed in, drinking from a small jar. The mage shuddered as she finished her drink and set the glass aside.

“They learned pretty fast that it was worthless to try and warm it. They never could get it to what I wanted,” Alice said as she began to slip out of her clothing, “Then again, I should be careful so I don’t end up melting your skin off.”

Alice slipped into the water and closed her eyes. She sat still for a few long moments as Jude undressed and waited. Finally, lines of steam began to rise from the surface of the bath. Jude tested with her fingertips and, reassured that it wouldn’t blister her skin, joined her wife in the hot water. She sat against the end of the tub and Alice joined her, settling in and leaning her back against Jude’s chest.

“I missed you so much,” Alice said, whispering against Jude’s neck.

Jude smiled and wrapped her arms tight around the smaller woman. Alice’s skin burned even hotter than the water, but Jude had gotten as used to the heat as a person reasonably could. She ran her fingers through Alice’s hair, her expression turning to one of perplexion. It felt as if Alice was shivering against her. She’d seen Alice shake in temperatures Jude herself found pleasant and comfortable, the heat emanating from within the mage making her feel cold that much more acutely, but it was far from that temperature now.

Gently pushing the woman back from the tight embrace, Jude looked at Alice’s face and felt a cold shock run through her core. To Jude’s near horror, Alice was crying and her fragile frame was shuddering with the force of her sobbing. Jude quickly pulled Alice back and held her tighter than before. She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen Alice weep. Had it been years? Had it actually ever happened? Jude suddenly wasn’t even sure and she was even less sure what to do. She held Alice close for a moment more before she took a deep breath.

“My sweet little monster,” she said in a soft murmur as she separated herself from Alice again. She began to gently wash Alice’s face, looking into her softly glowing eyes. “Tell me what is wrong.”

Jude methodically scrubbed and cleaned Alice’s face and hair before moving down her neck. She wasn’t sure if Alice was even going to speak at this point. Her thin chest was rising and falling so fast with Alice’s hiccuping, gasping breaths that Jude was mildly afraid she’d hurt herself. She washed Alice’s chest, taking a moment to check the spots where she had replaced the mage’s skin and admiring the effects of the bleaching potion Alice had devised for herself. Even after a few minutes, the color of her skin was already beginning to even out into the usual slightly bluish white.

“I don’t think I can take it,” Alice said, finally managing to catch a breath.

“Take what?” Jude said softly, hoping her uncertainty of the situation wasn’t bleeding through.

“Any of this. It’s been a year. A whole year of trying to do...something. Lead? I can’t lead. That isn’t who I am,” Alice said, thrusting her arms up and splashing water out across the floor, “So many are dead. It’s my fault! All of it. They’re dead because I’m here in charge. And I should be dead but I’m not. That isn’t fair to any of them. You saw me! I was going to have to use...use rope to keep myself together!”

Jude bite the inside of her lip, unsure what to say. She tried to soothe the woman who returned to the tearless sobbing of a Forsaken. She pulled Alice back in close and continued to run her hands gently over Alice’s skin.

“And you weren’t here,” Alice said after a moment, her voice dropping to a hoarse whisper, “Without you, I’m nothing.”

Jude tensed in surprise. “That isn’t true.”

“You keep me whole. You know what’s best. I couldn’t do it on my own. A year of endless war and watching everyone die because I couldn’t do it.”

Jude stood out of the bath and dried herself off with a sigh. Alice huddled with her arms around her knees but offered no resistance when Jude lifted her out. She gently patted the mage dry, tousling her hair in a futile hope for a smile. Satisfied with her work, Jude tossed the towels aside and lead Alice in the bedroom.

“We go out tomorrow to fight,” Alice said, morosely as she sat down on the bed.

“Alice, do they know that it’s dangerous?” Jude said. She got no response but for a half-hearted nod, “Then they take their lives in their own hands. You are not worthless without me. You are brilliant and incredible and I have only been here a short time but I can tell they respect and adore you. Look at this place! Look at what you have done in a year. Executor Corvin, far away from home but making the Dark Lady proud.”

Alice looked up, but just barely so. Her eyes glowed beneath heavy lids and dark lashes. Jude gently pushed Alice onto her back before she straddled the mage’s hips. She leaned down and pressed her lips to Alice’s, kissing her softly. Alice returned it reluctantly, at first, but when her arms slid around Jude’s waist, the doctor relaxed.

“You are far more than you think you are, Aliciena Redgrave,” Jude said in a whisper against her wife’s lips, “I know it has been hard for you, but you have been brilliant.”

Jude rolled off and onto her side. Alice curled up against her, holding close as she closed her eyes. Heat baked off of Alice’s skin and Jude gently caressed along her back. Alice was still uncertain and afraid. She was hurt. Jude could tell simply in the way the heat rose off Alice’s skin. It pulsed and shifted, hot and cold patches moving and flowing through the mage’s slender body. Jude opened her mouth to speak, but she realized that Alice had already fallen asleep. She wondered if it would be fitful or not, but at the moment Alice looked dead to the world. She brushed back Alice’s hair and placed a soft kiss on her ear.

“My beautiful, amazing Alice,” she said in a murmur, “Please do not doubt yourself, my love. You are capable of the most spectacular things and I have seen it. Just be you and this world will fall beneath your flame.”


	5. The Crypt Spider

It was midmorning when Jude made her way out into the courtyard. Alice had left before the sun had risen, set out with most of the mercenaries that resided in the garrison to attack an Iron Horde force. Alice had asked if she wished to come with, but Jude demured. Jude appreciated Alice’s confidence, but Jude was a doctor and not the killer Alice was. Besides, there was enough in that fort to keep her occupied for a lifetime and she was more than eager to start learning.

She had first decided to get a better look at where she was. Alice’s desperation and homesickness had kept Jude from being able to wander. It was surprisingly expansive, even butting up against a hillside that was marred with the dark entrance of an open ore mine. The buildings were built in the style of the Forsaken back home, all dark stone and iron that reached crookedly into the sky. With the number of Forsaken in her group, it wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was that she had even gotten so many. Jude hadn’t had a chance to question Alice about her brutal year trapped on this strange world, but she made a note to inquire about the Forsaken laborers.

As she walked around, Jude noticed how unsettlingly quiet it had gotten. She knew Alice was going to take a number of her people into battle, but it was almost as if she had abandoned the garrison. Aside from a few workers, a smith, and a handful of sentries, they were seemingly exposed. Jude made her way to the tavern. Last night, it had glowed like a bonfire and Jude wondered if the noise would attract some sort of attack. The bar was empty now, though, without anyone even behind the counter. Jude sighed and turned to leave.

“Something wrong, sweetheart?”

Jude spun on her heel but saw no one. She walked a few steps back into the tavern, looking around a corner, but she saw nothing. A soft laugh behind her made her turn slowly, her hand going for the slender dagger she hid in her robes. She found herself looking into the eyes of a Forsaken woman. She was hanging upside down, her legs hooked above her in the rafters. Most of her face was masked and short, wavy blond hair hung toward the ground.

“No, nothing wrong,” Jude said, her voice measured. She left her knife where it was, but took a step back from the woman. “Why are you here? Everyone went to the battle, I thought.”

“Oh, I was going to, but your wifey says to me that I should stay behind and keep an eye on Jude,” the odd woman said, cocking her head to the side. It was an odd tic when viewed this way, Jude thought. “Yes, keep an eye on Doctor Judethia Redgrave, newest and most important of the miserable bastards stuck here. At least says Miss Aliciena Corvin. Or is it Redgrave? She never told us you were a happy couple, you know. Not that its hard to see, way you stare at each other.”

Jude frowned faintly. That really didn’t sound like Alice. “Since you know me, I guess, who are you?”

“Easy enough, I’m Taraveris. You can call me Tara, I guess, since we’re all liking short names. Alice, Jude, and Tara. Corvin and Redgrave, though you got me beat there. I’m just Tara.”

Before Jude could reply, the woman simply fell from the ceiling and hit the ground with a thump. Amazingly, she managed to twist and land on all fours. Jude couldn’t marvel at her acrobatics long because when the woman stood up, Jude was struck dumb with surprise. Tara stood what looked to be a foot taller than Jude, placing her closer to seven foot than to six. For a moment, Jude wondered foolishly if this woman had been an actual giantess or a vrykul before death. Tara was rail thin and seemed to be composed principally of limbs. Jude stepped backward again and Tara let out a short, quiet laugh.

“The matter?”

“Nothing,” Jude said, recovering herself. She bristled faintly under the gaze of this woman and pushed past her, stepping back out into the sunshine in the yard, “So, since you are here to watch me, what are we going to do?”

“Here to watch, not entertain you,” Tara said in a mutter, shielding her eyes against the sun and blinking rapidly.

“Then watch,” Jude said, waving over her shoulder as she strode across the courtyard. Before Tara could stop her, she was out of the gates.

Judethia nearly stopped as she tried to take in her surroundings. The hill that the fortification sat on looked down a rough dirt road that weaved its way far beyond into a deep green valley. Jude could see smoke rising from somewhere down there where the fields turned rough and hilly against the base of the mountains. She wondered if that was where Alice had gone. Around her, trees rose up from dark soil so rich that she could smell it while just standing there. Pale white branches stretched across the road, light filtering down through amber leaves. Ferns and thick brush clung around the tree trunks, reaching almost as high as she was tall. It all smelled damp and earthy and strange, but most of all it smelled alive.

She took a few steps forward before she paused, thinking better of it. With a sharp gesture and a muttered word, a small flash of gold light crossed over her breast. She felt lighter and she was so, light enough that her feet just left the ground. Smiling to herself, she hovered across the ground and slipped through the underbrush. With Alice away playing war and incinerating helpless orcs, Jude felt it was time to do what she did best: learn. And there was undoubtedly enough to keep her satisfied for a long, long time. She briefly thought about Alice’s collection of books, but dismissed it. Alice wasn’t always the best at recording information. She was too unfocused most of the time, her thoughts scattered like dust. An entry about a new animal could speak of its appearance before suddenly turning to her musings on what it might taste like. Jude smiled and shook her head.

She could hear Tara behind her on the road. “Oh, really? Really think that’s gonna stop me? No little footprints?”

* * *

 

By the time Jude had reached the small clearing by river, she couldn’t hear Tara or see any sign of the garrison. She dispelled her magic and her feet touched back on the warm ground. She took a deep breath, enjoying the feel of the hot, wet air in her lungs, almost tasting the lushness of the forest in it. The mist and spray rising up from the rushing water was so thick that she could barely see the other side of the river.

It was truly overwhelming. It began to sink in just how much there was to see and find and learn here. This was a different world, a living world with plants and animals so different than what she left behind on Azeroth. Flowers bloomed around her in brilliant colors. Fruit hung heavily from the branches of the trees. She could hear the sounds of alien birds, their calls and songs unlike anything she’d heard before. Jude grinned and laughed breathlessly as she sat down on the bank of the river. She removed her shoes and pushed her toes into the smooth, cold pebbles that made up the river’s edge. She needed to figure out where to start. Her thoughts were interrupted by a rustling in the bushes in front of her across the water. She puzzled for a moment but ultimately rolled her eyes.

“I thought you were sneakier than that, Tara,” Jude said just loud enough to be heard over the gurgling water.

When she got no reply, Jude pushed herself to her feet and took a step away from the water. Gold light burst to life around her fingertips as whatever it was began to move toward her. It splashed heavily into the river and the mist curled around it, parting enough for her to see. It was a hydra at least twice as tall as she was. Oddly, it seemed to be covered with leaves and foliage that had stuck to its body, but she pushed her curiosity aside as it let out a roar that thundered in her ears and chest.

Jude wasn’t a fighter or soldier, but she was far from stupid. She knew danger when she saw it and immediately went on the attack. Her hands slashed through the air in front of her, the golden light radiating from her hands lashing out like brilliant whips. It slashed across the beast and easily split through its hide. Confusion bubbled up in Jude’s mind when the wounds opened up instead of cauterizing like they should have. Even when used as a weapon the Light sealed and closed injuries in flesh, it was a weakness that was made up for by pure power. Instead of blood, a thick greenish-brown sludged oozed out of the creature and dropped in sticky dollops on the ground.

The beast seemed confused by the attacks and Jude used that to her advantage. She had very little room to maneuver and the more the creature stumbled around at the river’s edge, the safer she was. She focused her assault on one of the three heads, Light slashing out like blinding blades over and over again until, finally, it severed and fell to the ground with a sickening wet thud. It twitched for a few long moments, mouth opening and closing spasmodically. Jude didn’t get a chance to gloat over her strength. Roaring and shrieking in pain and rage, the beast suddenly whipped around and lashed its tail at her. Her eyes went wide as it caught her in the midsection, her breath leaving her lungs in a surprised gasp before she was sent tumbling across the ground and into the brush. Her vision dimmed but she could see the creature turn and face her. Through its pain, she could see that it had finally come to its senses.

Maybe I cut off the stupid head that was holding it back, Jude thought bitterly as she struggled to stand.

The wounded hydra thrashed around the clearing as it lumbered forward. As it reached the treeline, flames suddenly blossomed in front of its middle head. Jude stood, her mouth open in wordless surprise as the creature caught fire. Two more small explosions fanned out across the massive body, forcing the monster to stumble back toward the river. Jude looked around for the source of the flames and saw Taraveris standing silently a hundred feet to her left, a small glass jar in her hand. She threw it and it landed at the hydra’s feet, where it burst and splashed flame across its legs.

Tara glanced at Jude before she walked out of the trees and Jude followed her on unsteady feet. The hydra had made it to the water, but it had been too late. Flames had covered most of its body, leaving it a charred and steaming mess. Tara poked it with a knife, but it only lay with its heavy body across the river.

“Thank you,” Jude said as she limped up to the body.

“Didn’t mean for you to get hit. Happened too quick,” Tara said. Jude could hear the concern in her voice but somehow doubted it was all over Jude’s injury. “Wanted to see how you’d do since you was so intent on runnin’ off and being brave or whatever.”

“Well? How’d I do?”

“Better than I thought you would.”

Jude smiled to herself as she walked over to the head she severed from the creature. She pulled out a knife and began to poke at the oozing end of it. It was strange, not like flesh at all.

“What is this thing?”

Tara appeared silently over her shoulder, leaning down to look at the creature. “Its a plant.”

“A plant? That doesn’t sound...” she said before trailing off. She shook her head slowly, “Actually that makes more sense than it should.”

“This place is weird,” Tara said as she stood back up, “Come on, enough murdering the locals.”

Jude cut a large chunk of the plant matter from the neck of the monster and wrapped it in a cloth. She tucked it in her robe and hurried to catch up to Tara, who was already weaving her way through the brush. The pair walked in silence for a while before Jude looked up at Tara.

“So, lets not tell Alice about this.”

Tara looked down at her a moment. “No shit, you think I got a death wish?”

She scoffed and increased her speed, moving through the forest like there was nothing there to stop her. Jude very nearly had to jog to keep up and her clothing kept getting snagged on thorns and brambles. She placed a hand against her sore stomach but almost immediately, it moved to touch the prize of her little expedition. The thought of getting to test and study her first new sample made her almost giddy and she realized that she’d probably tell Alice anyway.


	6. The Flames of Life

Alice stood in the back of the wagon with her arms raised above her head. Her bare skin was wreathed in flames that swirled up in streamers from her fingertips. Two others, a serious-faced Blood Elf man and a timid looking Forsaken woman, stood in front of her so the three formed a small triangle while mimicking Alice’s actions. Between the three, hovering several feet above their heads, was a spinning and pulsating orb of flame that was being fed by their magic fire.

A trio of warriors stood on the seat of the cart with large shields hoisted in front of them, shielding the magi from the battle that was unfolding in the field beyond. Not a fifty yards away, Champion Kelira stood defiantly in her black armor, her voice ringing out from within her helm. She swept a bloodstained halberd out in front of her, hacking through the arm and deep into the torso of an attacking orc.

“Hold them back!” Kelira said as she wrenched her weapon free. She stood with one armored foot on the chest of the dying orc and looked over the small military force. Enemy combatants still were streaming out of the fort several hundred yards away. “The Executor needs more time! Do not fail her!”

She stalked along the battle line, stopping briefly to shore up the defense by removing a head or two and coating her weapon with more blood. She paused behind a cluster of green-skinned orcs and held her weapon vertical, the butt of the handle against the dirt. Kelira uttered a quick, hushed prayer and lines of yellow light curved out across the ground around her and the warriors. As ever, the Light knew who was friend and foe. The green-skinned orcs seemed invigorated, their cuts closing and their fatigue lessening, while their brown-skinned counterparts were thrown off their attack. The Light in that form that was like thousands of burning cuts across the skin, Kelira knew, and the distraction it provided was enough for her allies to down their foes.

As she looked back along the fighting, she saw one of the Executor’s Forsaken fall. She rushed down the line and speared her weapon through the attacking orc before she could land another blow. She left the orc woman there, propped up on the heavy polearm as her blood and life drained away. Kelira knelt down and drew the Forsaken man up in one arm, forcing him to sit despite the pain etched across his face. A deep gash across his chest and stomach was oozing the dark green ichor that flowed through the veins of most of the undead.

Without a word, she pressed her gauntleted fist against the injured man. Warm, gold light shone out from her touch and the Forsaken screamed in pain. Kelira cringed. That was one thing she still struggled to get used to. To have a person or any creature feel such pain at the touch of the Light as it mended their body was unsettling at the best of times. Satisfied that the living dead man was as healthy as he could be, she pushed him back to his feet. She crept back away from the fight and tried to catch her breath. She was not a healer by nature, she fought for the Light and the Sin’dorei with steel and ferocity. She looked up at Alice, who seemed almost oblivious to the world around her, and shook her head. Somehow, that little Forsaken had convinced her to do this and for some reason, Alice trusted her to do her job well. Kelira knew it was that faith and trust in her that actually made her good at what she did. Trust wasn’t something that came lightly in her world and to have it now was a motivation she would have never believed.

“Just a bit longer,” Alice said in a mutter, her voice showing signs of strain.

“Keep that line!” Kelira said, standing back up and moving to continue spreading the blessings of the Light among her allies, “The Executor needs a few more minutes of your time, can you spare it?”

They were too tired for a rousing yell, but there was a low rumbling none-the-less and the line shifted forward several feet away from the wagon almost immediately. The enemy fighters stumbled and many were hacked down but that was when the arrows began to fall. She rushed among her allies, doing what she could and struggling to keep them alive as the crossbowmen and archers that were in her ranks picked off those firing on them. Less and less arrows hit and Kelira fell to her knees. One of her warriors lay dead already and others were bleeding slowly into the dirt. She had done what she could, helped to keep them from dying but now she was out of strength. A choked cry behind her, though, sent electricity through her body and she was on her feet and moving.

She let out a small breath of relief when she saw Aliciena still standing but hissed between her teeth when she realized one of the mages was missing. Kelira stopped at the back of the wagon and clenched her hands into fists. Alice’s little Forsaken assistant lay crumpled against the boards, an arrow lodged through the back of her skull and out her right eye. Alice was staring down at her in disbelief, her face screwed up with emotion. Kelira looked up at the warriors who were supposed to be shielding the mages. They were shifting nervously, occasionally looking back at the scene behind them. A lucky shot between the shields? Maybe over them? Kelira hoped it was simply an accident, but she didn’t have time to deal with that now.

“Executor, look at me,” she said softly as she climbed into the wagon. Alice continued to stare at the body. The flames around her arms were flaring violently and the blood elf mage looked nervous, “Alice, I need you to look at me.”

Aliciena looked up at her name. Her yellow eyes were wide and her mouth twisted in pain and shock. She didn’t have the release mechanism that the others had for their emotions. She wasn’t able to cry, to trigger that outpouring of everything that hurt no matter how she struggled. The blood elf mage looked between the two and then up at the flames they had been gathering. They bulged and twisted, no longer the beautiful sphere they were. He slowly lowered his arms and slipped over the side of the wagon, away from the dangerous magic.

“I need you to dispel that magic, Alice,” Kelira said softly as she approached. She reached out her hands as if to touch the mage, but stopped well short. She knew from experience that by this point Alice’s skin would be hotter than a forge.

“No,” Alice said simply, her voice low and rough, “She died because I failed. I won’t waste it.”

Kelira shook her head. “No, it isn’t your fault. Alice, you know-”

The look on Alice’s face was enough to silence the paladin. She knew that look far too well. Delicately, Kelira grabbed the body of the fallen mage and pulled her off the cart. She shouted to the shield-bearers to move and they stumbled off the cart a moment before Alice consumed herself in flame. It spread from her arms and began to swirl up her body in a whirlwind of heat. Her clothes began to singe, something they didn’t do even when her body temperature was enough to burn an unwary person. The boards of the wagon caught fire as she turned to look across the field at the enemy fortification. Her arms still raised up, the orb of flame began to expand to enormous proportions. With a cry almost lost entirely to the roaring of the inferno surrounding her, Alice pushed upward and, with an oddly delicate sizzling sound, the orb vanished.

A few, mainly the attacking force, looked around in confusion. It was such a big display for nothing, eliciting laughter from a number of them. Those of Fort Redgrave, though, stood strong against a briefly renewed assault. Alice slumped down, using the rest of her magic to put out the fires in the wagon. It was charred deeply in some spots but fixable. She was exhausted and barely could keep her eyes open to watch the display. Kelira stepped back onto the wagon, careful to avoid the damage, and lifted Alice up.

Kelira paused and watched as the skies opened up. The laughter of the enemy forces stopped as burning chunks of rock crashed out of the sky and into the field behind them. Those who were moving to reinforce were suddenly under attack by missiles almost too fast to track. But that wasn’t all, Kelira knew. It should have been, but Alice pushed much too far. The fragments of stone grew larger until, finally, a meteor the size of a building fell through the clouds. Kelira didn’t blink because she knew that she would miss it if she did. She was always somewhat awed to see the power Alice had though she rarely used it to this level. Kelira wondered if she was even able to do it at will.

In a heartbeat, the meteor smashed into the ground. It exploded in a bright flash that was followed closely by a deafening boom. Kelira finally shut her eyes as the wave of hot, ash filled air washed across them. When it settled, the paladin breathed a sigh of relief. Alice had missed the fortress, instead leaving a smoldering crater in front of it. The walls the garrison were smashed and burning and those who had survived the attack were scattering. Alice had not always had the presence of mind when she was in such a state to avoid hitting their prize.

“Home,” Alice said in a whisper just barely louder than the ringing in Kelira’s ears.

The paladin nodded, giving a few last instructions to Kurok the ogre. She was leery of leaving him in charge, but he had never once failed the Executor or shown any sign of disloyalty. Satisfied everything would be taken care of, Kelira turned down the road with one arm around Alice’s fragile waist to support her.

“You can’t keep doing this to yourself,” she said after thirty minutes of strained silence.

Alice shook her head and said nothing, casting her exhausted gaze down the dirt road.

“They know what they’re getting into, Executor.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to lead them to the end,” Alice said finally, her voice soft but bitter.

“You aren’t. Sometimes the end just finds people.”

“An arrow would have found Annalena’s head if we had stayed at home?”

“In time, maybe. If we had not gone out today and instead left them to build and plan, how long before they bring a force larger than we can match right to our door?” Kelira continued when Alice said nothing. “They came along willingly. They came to Draenor willingly, most of us knowing damn well it was a suicide mission. There is a chance everyone of them will die and as much as I know you hate it, you cannot let this consume you. Grieve for them, certainly, but don’t let this guilt over nothing take control of your life.”

“It’s hard.”

“Yes,” Kelira said with a shrug, “but you were chosen because you are strong. You have to use that strength more, to push back against this. Your strength is their strength and the more you show weakness, the more of them will fall.”

Alice ducked her head and chewed on her bottom lip. Kelira watched her for a time before she stopped walking, letting Alice put her weight on her own feet. Alice looked at her feet for a long moment before she leaned up on her tiptoes faster than Kelira expected. Without warning, Alice kissed the paladin on the cheek and Kelira inhaled a little in surprise at the heat of Alice’s lips.

“Thank you,” Alice said as she turned, moving her way slowly but steadily back home.

Kelira watched her go for a moment before she followed after her Executor.

“Yes, well, it is what I am here for. That and hitting things with a polearm,” Kelira said with an almost nervous laugh.

“Don’t tell anyone.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Kelira said, blinking at Alice.

The mage looked over her shoulder at the blood elf. “Don’t tell anyone I kissed you. I don’t need every one in the garrison wanting kisses when they do good.”

Kelira looked at Alice’s departing figure in confusion. She couldn’t tell if Alice was serious or not. The sheer lunacy of the entire base wanting reward kisses from the undead Executor was enough to make Kelira’s head hurt.

“Yes, I can see where that would be an issue,” the paladin said finally, “Especially with the ogres.”

Alice snorted out a laugh and Kelira shook her head. This was the closest she had come to a normal talk with her leader but she wasn’t really sure it was an improvement. She looked back at the columns of smoke rising from the wreckage of the battlefield. At least they won, even if it had gone off kilter and quite dangerous. She liked Alice, she thought the mage was clever and observant in her own odd ways. And powerful, frighteningly so in times of limited control. But she worried, not for the first time, if Alice really might be leading them all to their end.


	7. Dark Armored Heart

Kelira and Alice did not speak for the rest of the journey back. As the paladin watched, she could see Alice’s emotions unraveling again. In the best of times, Kelira was unsure how to speak to the strange woman and knowing the danger the mage was in times of raw emotion, she was at a loss as to what to do. So she simply followed along, looking nervously at Aliciena. Once or twice, the blood elf reached a hand out to touch Alice’s shoulder but she drew away at the heat radiating off the fragile woman.

When the garrison appeared in front of them, Kelira’s hopes rose just a little. Alice always did better in the fort with things to attend to. Even better, Lady Redgrave was standing and waiting for her wife. Jude looked excited as she clutched a small bundle in her pale hands. Yet when Alice reached her, she paused only briefly to kiss her wife on the cheek and excuse herself. Kelira swore under her breath, her mood sinking like a stone.

 

Jude held her parcel to her chest and looked after Alice in surprise, watching as she disappeared into the keep. Alice wasn’t a loner by nature, Jude knew, at least when it came to her wife. She could barely keep from Jude’s side even when the doctor was working, but everyone needed space and room to breath and think. Even Alice. But the tone of her voice and the look in her eyes made Jude very uncertain.

“We need to talk,” said the blood elf woman who had escorted Alice back.

Judethia watched as Kelira strode past her, dark armor coated in dust and dirt. The doctor was confused, troubled by Alice’s mood and suspicious of the haughty elf woman. But Kelira never looked back and, curiosity getting the best of her, Jude followed her into the barracks. They were empty and silent except for the metallic steps of the paladin going up the stairs. Once inside Kelira’s quarters, the paladin motioned Jude to sit in a rough wooden chair near the door.

“Aliciena is becoming increasingly unstable,” Kelira said as she began to unbuckle her armor.

“How do you mean?” Jude had more than an idea but she didn’t want to be the one to confirm it. She tried to act interested in looking around the room, but it was so sparse and cold that she couldn’t even pretend.

“You know what I mean. She’s not able to handle the pressure of her job and she’s even worse at coping with the death of her subordinates,” Kelira said as she placed the last of her armor on its rack. She turned to look at Jude while wearing nothing but her underclothes and seemingly thinking nothing of it. “I know you’ve just arrived, so you may not fully understand...”

The blood elf trailed off as she looked at Jude sharply. The Forsaken was closely examining the woman’s body quite openly, though there was no lust in her gaze. There was something else, though. An excitement, an unsettling interest, something. Kelira snapped her fingers loudly.

“Hm? Oh, apologies. I never get to see a living elf body. Very different when they’re still warm,” Jude said thoughtfully, still eyeing Kelira. “She has spoken to me a little of how she feels. I didn’t really understand at first, but now that I have had time to think...Paladin, what do you know of Alice?”

“Not much, I guess,” Kelira said with a shrug as she sat down on her bed, “She’s a Forsaken, she’s a mage, she doesn’t like to do much of the day to day business of an Executor. She can be very charming when she wants but otherwise wants to be left to her own studies.”

“Do you think Alice knows anything about you? Does she ask you questions?”

“She used to. Back when we were starting, mostly.”

“You see,” Jude said with a small sigh, “Alice doesn’t see you as soldiers or underlings. She sees you as friends and maybe even family. Especially those who have been with her a long time. And especially the Forsaken and elves among you.”

“Why them?”

“You remind her of a different time and the Forsaken are her people, of course.”

“Fine, but we are not a family. We are here in the name of the Horde to fight and kill and even die.”

Jude raised her eyebrows questioningly. “You would prefer a leader who sees you as pawns to die in the name of the cause than one who sees you as people to preserve?”

The paladin bristled at that question, folding her arms across her chest. “I desire a leader who will not fall to pieces at the loss of one Forsaken girl.”

“Did you ever think that is why you’re here?”

“To do her job?” Kelira said with a laugh as she stood up and began to dress again. This wasn’t going how she intended.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve been here less than a week and even I can tell it’s because you balance her,” Jude said quietly, watching Kelira slow and pause, “She is emotional, attached to her soldiers and too afraid to lose them. But you are not. You see war as war and that death happens. Has she been lacking anywhere else?”

Kelira chewed the inside of her cheek as she buttoned her shirt. She was terrible at leading a fight but she was quite good at fighting. Her strategies were rarely sound because she was too brash and impatient like every other mage Kelira had ever known, but she took advice. And there had been a handful of times where she had kept them out of battle by being her weird and bubbly self. Kurok came to mind. If not for Alice, he’d be dead and they’d be out a brutal warrior plus whoever he managed to take down before dying.

“She’s insane,” Kelira said finally.

“Oh yes, she is.”

The paladin’s eyebrow lifted questioningly as she sat down and began to lace up her boots. Jude laughed and shrugged.

“She is Forsaken. We’re all insane. It comes with the second life.”

Judethia stood and stretched her arms over her head. Her shoulders popped noisily, loud enough to make Kelira wince. The Forsaken woman then moved to stand in the doorway, watching the elf as she stood up to leave.

“Listen, whatever you think of Alice, she isn’t stupid.”

“I never said she was,” Kelira said with a frown.

“Then you should realize what she is doing,” Jude said as she stepped forward. Kelira was taller than her by a few inches, so Jude had to look up at her. “She needs you to be there for her more, to do what she can’t. She trusts you.”

“How do you know?”

Jude laughed. “I’ve seen you interact once, but the way she smiles at you even when you can’t see her mouth. The way she stands, the way she speaks. And she’s my wife. I know her well enough to see when she cares and trusts someone. I can hear it in her voice when someone is important to her,” Jude said, a sly smirk crossing her lips, “When she’s become a little...infatuated.”

Kelira sputtered a bit, an embarrassed blush rising unwanted in her cheeks. She turned away from Jude and crossed her arms over her chest while the Forsaken laughed under her breath.

“She has a thing for elf women,” Jude said with a dramatic sigh, needling the poor paladin, “If that is all you wanted to speak of, I need to go find my wife and make sure she is alright.”

Kelira sat on her bed as Jude left and stayed there for a few minutes afterward. A shiver ran through her body before she finally slumped her shoulders and ran a hand over her face. She was certain Jude was right about one thing: every Forsaken was crazy. And the suggestion that Aliciena was somehow attracted to her? It made Kelira’s skin crawl. Maybe they were perfectly nice people, but they were still walking corpses. They weren’t supposed to feel that sort of thing or do that sort of thing.

“Well, that was weird.”

Kelira leapt off the bed at the sound of the voice, her body flooding with cold adrenaline. She grabbed her weapon and spun around only to see the Taraveris’ ungainly form filling the doorway to her room. She let out a breath but didn’t let go of her weapon.

“By the Light, what is wrong with you, Tara?”

“I’m not sure but I think it’s because my parents didn’t love me.”

Kelira snorted derisively as she finally sheathed her weapon and strapped the sword at her waist.

“So, think you might, I dunno, compete with Jude for Alice’s affection?” Tara asked, cocking her head to the side so that her hair bobbed.

“Don’t be stupid.”

“I think you’d be a cute couple.”

“Shut up! She’s a woman, for starters. And even if that wasn’t a problem,” Kelira said before pausing and looking at Tara, “well, she’s a Forsaken.”

“No, don’t tell me you got one of those biases! It’d break my heart, Kel,” Tara said dramatically and Kelira was almost certain her eyes were glowing brighter with glee.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Alright, alright,” Tara said in her muffled voice, “so what are you going to do?”

Kelira didn’t answer. She pushed her way past Tara and into the hallway. The Forsaken followed her to the stairs, like some horrible cross between a puppy and a giant looming spider. Kelira didn’t really know where she was going as she stepped out into the sunlight, but she wanted away from Tara. She needed to think and that woman made it impossible. As if hearing her thoughts, Tara appeared at her side.

“Well? Gonna be a good girl and help the Executor?”

“This is none of your business, Taraveris.”

“Oh, sure it is,” Tara said as she stepped out in front of Kelira and stopped, “Everything is.”

Kelira glared at the Forsaken woman who stared back with eyebrows raised. Even though she couldn’t see, the paladin was certain Tara was grinning. The woman was always happiest in some kind of confrontation. Kelira laid her hand lightly on the hilt of her sword.

“Only in your mind. Leave it, undead, and let me be.”

Tara giggled behind her mask. “Don’t you want to help her? Be the hero. Take her spot as the glorious lord of this shithole? Leading a bunch of weak-willed idiots?”

“I want nothing to do with her, them, or you. Especially you,” Kelira said as she grit her teeth. Her hand tightened on her weapon. “She is going to get everyone of us killed. She has no idea what she is doing and I want nothing to do with it. And you? You’re nothing but a psychopath.”

Taraveris leaned forward to speak but never got the words out of her mouth. With the undead far too close for comfort, Kelira lashed out and slammed her fist into Tara’s jaw. Gold light flared brightly from her hand, the power searing the Forsaken’s skin. She collapsed into the dirt with a cry that turned rapidly into a stream of manic laughter. Tara grabbed one of her cruel looking daggers and tried to push herself back to her feet when the pair felt a bitter cold swirl around them. The ground froze in a slick ice puddle from which grew jagged ice crystals. They covered Tara’s legs, waist and arm, keeping her pinned down on the ground while they trapped Kelira nearly up to her waist.

“Idiots.”

The pair watched as Aliciena strode toward them. Kelira wasn’t sure she had seen Alice like this before and even Tara had stopped laughing. Alice had always been a tiny thing, bundle up beneath layers of mismatched and damaged clothing. Even a few days ago in battle, she had looked as she always did. She was a non-entity, a person that could be dismissed simply for looking small and pathetic. Now, though, she wore long robes of silver and green the billowed just slightly out behind her as she walked. A few inches above her head there floated a gemmed crown that was glowing with magic. Her face was uncovered and her features, sharpened by death, were in view for Kelira for the first time. She was not pretty, not by the standards of the living at least, but she may have been in life. The coldness of her expression meant it didn’t really matter either way.

Behind her stood a figure Kelira could only assume to be Judethia. She had to assume because the person was completely hidden. White and gold robes wrapped around Jude’s body, heavy leather straps closing it in the front. Thin leather gloves covered her hands and wrists. Her face was hidden behind a long mask that matched her robes, her head covered by a wide-brimmed and pointed hat so that only her yellow eyes could be seen.

Alice leveled a long metal staff at them. Flames burned merrily at the top, kept in check by a magically free-floating spiked metal ring. She brandished it with accusation as she stepped forward but said nothing. One boot found Tara’s hand and ground it down against the frozen dirt until the spy dropped her weapon. The mage’s free hand grabbed hold of Kelira’s collar and yanked the elf forward until they were eye to eye. Kelira couldn’t fight back without risking injury with her lack of mobility, so she stayed silent and waited.

“You want to leave so badly, then do it,” Alice said, her voice barely above a whisper, “I don’t need you here. There are other command posts, so I’m sure you’ll find one to your liking.”

Kelira held her gaze with Alice for as long as she could. The heat radiating off of the tiny mage was unbearably sweltering and Kelira couldn’t stop herself from wondering why the ice didn’t melt. Before she dropped her gaze, Alice looked away instead, looking down at Tara instead. Kelira watched Jude hover in the background like a tall, gaunt specter.

“And you. Do you have nothing better to do than torment your own comrades? Are you so bored? I guess I should send you off with the main army from now on instead of leaving you to your own devices,” Alice said as she stepped down hard on Tara’s hand again. There was a crunch that could have been ice, dirt, or bone. “At least you’d be more useful on the front lines.”

Alice turned and stepped off the patch of magic ice. It shattered, falling in sparkling crystals to the ground before disappearing. Kelira stumbled on numb legs, but kept her balance. Tara slowly pushed herself up out of the dirt, holding her injured hand against her stomach.

“Leave if you are going to. I do not care. I don’t need someone who does nothing but instigate chaos or another who cannot bring herself to speak or step forward when needed and instead decides to spread her own ills,” Alice said as she walked away, “Maybe I do have my own issues but at least it isn’t out of malice or arrogance.”

The mage left the other three standing there, making her way to the fortified command building. Jude chuckled softly, the sound muffled by her mask. Kelira regained her composure and strode over to the doctor. Tara shadowed her cautiously. Kelira allowed herself a mental smile at seeing the mouthy undead finally silenced.

“What did you do to her?” the paladin said to Jude.

“What? You say that like an accusation.”

“Maybe it is. That isn’t Executor Corvin.”

Jude chuckled again. “Of course that’s Alice. Who else would it be?”

“Then you must be--”

“Oh, shut up,” Jude said with a sigh, “You want to know what I did? I spoke to her. Something you couldn't manage. Maybe it’s an elf thing, but it’s stupid. Regardless, she wants to meet with the three of us. Or just me if you decide to run off.”

Jude turned and walked away from the pair. They stood shoulder to shoulder, watching the woman in white disappear inside the command center after her wife. Tara sheathed her weapon and reached up, doing something Kelira had never seen. The spy unbuttoned her mask and let it hang free, letting out a long sigh that sounded as if it had been trapped for years. Kelira couldn’t even enjoy the look of confused defeat on the Forsaken’s face because a shudder ran down her spine.

“Tara, for the love of the Light, put your mask back on.”


	8. Letters From Home

Alice stood in the courtyard of the garrison in her silver and green robes. Jude stood to her left and slightly behind, wrapped tight in her white and gold. It had taken Alice a little bit to convince her to wear them the first time. Jude was certain they made her look like some tall, gaunt ghoul instead of a doctor. In truth, she was right but Judethia was one of the least threatening people Alice knew and she needed a little help if she was going to handle working in the garrison. Now, though, she seemed to be enjoying it a little more and put the robes on without fuss.

Kelira stood to Alice's right in her usual red and black armor, her massive blood colored ranseur on her back. It had been two days since the fight and the meeting and the elf still looked uncertain, which Alice found amusing. She always acted so certain that she knew the best way for things to happen, but when she had the chance, Kelira seemed to balk.

Ahead of the trio, the gates had been opened for the return of their small army. Kurok and Garl led a short wagon train into the garrison, the carts filled with everything from scrap metal to food to scrolls to weapons. The two ogres walked up to their Forsaken commander as the wagons went off to begin unloading. The rest of the garrison forces followed behind, looking worn and exhausted. They trudged up behind Kurok, nonetheless, and stood in rough formation. They flanked a group of orcs that had been stripped to their underclothes and had their hands chained.

“Well, Kurok, how did it go?” Alice said curiously, looking around the huge ogre at the orcs.

Kurok snorted dismissively. “We crushed them before they even set up right. Not much to take, nothing interesting.”

“What about them?” Alice said, motioning at the cluster of male and female orcs.

“Gave up. Cowards,” Kurok said with a sneer, “Figured we'd bring them here, let you decide.”

“Now, now, don't be too harsh. Still, we can't very well trust them, can we?” Alice said with a laugh, “Take them to Lady Zazz'tel. She'll know what to do.”

Kurok turned and led the prisoners and the garrison fighters towards the barracks. They made it halfway before the wind kicked up. It was strong enough to stagger a few of the warriors and even knock down one or two who weren't expecting it. Alice put a hand up to shield her eyes as dust and debris swirled violently around the courtyard. This didn't feel natural and the sentries were frantic as they tried to find the source of it. Crossbows were aimed at the sky or out into the forest, but Alice and the few other mages that still lived in the fort felt it first.

The wind swirled like a whirlwind in the center of the fort, dust billowing up into the sky. Light flashed in the winds like lightning but, instead of the crackle of electricity, it sounded off the hissing whoosh of pure arcane power and discharged waves of energy that felt hot and cold and sent shivers across the skin. Finally, reality gave up and the air was torn apart to give way to a jagged rip in space and time. The one that Alice had made for Jude was small, just enough to bring through a person and their belongings and even that had nearly been too much. This one was huge, formed by someone with massive strength or by a room full of mages working together. Alice raised her hand and waved to her soldiers as she shouted over the wind.

“Hold! Weapons away!” she said as she stepped toward the portal. It felt familiar.

It felt like home.

Alice couldn't help but smile when the Forsaken warrior stepped through. He wore the dark armor of the Forsaken shock troops, his heavy shield on his back and curved blade at his waist. His chest was covered by a tabard with the Forsaken crest emblazoned across it.

“Aliciena Corvin?” he said in a croaking voice. He saluted when she nodded at him. “I'm Gregori Rustblade. The Dark Lady sends her regards and a few reinforcements. She asked I give you this letter.”

“Thank you, Gregori,” Alice said as she took the envelope he offered, “If you'd take your troops and follow the others into the barracks, you can get yourselves settled. We'll meet later to discuss--Holy Light!”

Gregori chuckled as he turned and motioned for his troops to follow him. A dozen or so Forsaken in matching armor followed him toward the barracks, but it was the last four figures that stepped through the portal that made her use a phrase she hadn't uttered since she was a young, living girl. They stood easily twice as tall as Alice, probably more. Their bodies were thick with muscle and bound up in fur-lined leather armor. Huge helms with curving horns sat on their heads and each had a truly giant axe strapped to their backs. They were vrykul, the giant ancestors of humanity and, ultimately, the Forsaken.

Alice looked up at them in awe, but they paid no attention to any of their surroundings. They were muttering amongst themselves in their strange, harsh language as they followed the rest of the reinforcements. Alice finally turned to look at Jude and Kelira, both women looking as shocked as Alice.

“How about we read the letter?” Kelira said quietly after a few moments.

Alice sat at her desk and stared at the letter in giddy disbelief. It was a letter from Sylvanas! A letter addressed directly to Alice from the Dark Lady. It was doubtful that it had been written by her, certainly, but it was dictated by her at the least. And signed! The crest of both the Forsaken and of Quel'thalas adorned the bottom of the parchment.

Kelira and Jude sat patiently, watching and waiting for Alice to read the letter. When it seemed like that was never going to happen, Jude stood up and snatched the paper out of Alice's hands. Alice didn't even seem to notice. The doctor scanned the letter quickly and let out a low sigh as she sat down on Alice's bed. She looked at Kelira and the elf suddenly felt her palms begin to sweat.

“Okay, well,” Jude said quietly before clearing her throat, “it says:

“To Executor Aliciena Redgrave, I am sorry to say that this letter brings nothing but ill tidings for you and those under your command. These will be the last reinforcements that you will receive, so do not squander them. The vrykul are a special treat from our recent recruitment efforts in Northrend. I believe they will serve you well.

“As well, this will likely be the last communication you receive from Azeroth. When you were sent through the Dark Portal, there was no guarantee that you would live longer than a few days. No one, not the Horde nor the Alliance, expected anything near what you and the others have accomplished. Now, the foolish Alliance seeks to reignite the war that we thought we ended with the Siege at Orgrimmar. Perhaps they are so well organized that they are able to wage war here in Azeroth while keeping their own assault forces reinforced, but the information from within their own command says this is not the case. They are cutting off their own people and leaving them there to die. Worse, they are forcing us to do the same and there is nothing we can do.

“The dwarven clans now march from their mountain holes and move toward Lordaeron through the Wetlands. They will seek to cross the Thandol Span into the Arathi Highlands, presumably to meet up with the remnants of the Wildhammers in the Hinterlands. However, the Royal Apothecary Society has deployed and the dwarves will quickly learn why hiding in holes in the ground is a poor choice.

“We have withdrawn from Gilneas, leaving it to the worgen. The worgen still left in the Silverpine Forest have retreated back as well, leaving us to fortify the gate in preparation for the fleet that will soon come to reclaim that broken land. We have no word from the rest of the Horde as to whether they will assist us or not. It seems unlikely that even the elves will come to our aide, should we need it.

“It may have been kinder to have simply stopped sending you information and news. Perhaps you might have wondered if you had been forgotten about or maybe the magic had ceased functioning. You and those of the Forsaken and even those of the Horde have a right to know what is befalling your home. You have a right to know why you are being abandoned. You have a right to know, even though not many are aware of what you are doing, that you are champions of the Forsaken and heroes of Azeroth.

“This may all be for naught. You may all perish there. We may perish here. But I know you will find a way. You are Forsaken. We are Forsaken. None shall stand before us.

“The Dark Lady watches over you, Aliciena Redgrave.”

Alice felt her heart breaking in her chest. She had not really absorbed the words when she read it, maybe not even actually read it. But to hear it now, in Jude's voice as it cracked with emotion. It sank in deeply, like a cold blade. They were alone. She turned in her seat to look at the others. Jude sat and stared at the letter, her hand covering her mouth. Kelira was pale as snow and she had clasped her hands between her knees to keep them from shaking.

“We need to tell them,” the paladin said in a quiet, raspy voice.

Alice bit her lip and slowly nodded. “I agree. Kelira, could you…?”

The elf said nothing as she stood on unsteady legs. Carefully, she made her way to the door and shut it behind her. The two Forsaken heard the single choked hiccup that Kelira couldn't keep contained and wished they hadn't.

“Not exactly where I thought I'd die,” Jude said with a weak smile.

“I'm sorry.”

“Why? At least I'm here with you. If you'd left me, I'd just die alone in Undercity.”

Alice sighed and slumped in her chair. Jude sat quietly, rereading the letter one more time before she folded up. There wasn't much to say, so they sat in silence. The minutes dragged by until Kelira finally opened the door. The three walked wordlessly down the stairs and out into the fading sunlight. Most of the residents of the fort were gathered in the courtyard, waiting with mild confusion or irritation if they had be awoken or interrupted. Most of them were Forsaken, but a few elves, green-skinned orcs, trolls, goblins, the new vrykul, and even a lone pandaren were among the crowd. The two ogres and a number of the native orcs were hanging around the edges.

Alice swallowed hard before she raised her hands. With one last scan of the crowd, of her people, she took a deep breath and spoke.


	9. Anniversaries

Alice was still unsure about having any kind of celebration, but word around the garrison had been that they should do something to commemorate it. Jude and the others had noted it would be a morale boost and that was something they could desperately use. So she watched as the laborers erected a rough pavillion under the remaining, but still watchful eye of Foreman Cryptmold. She listened to the rumors that Shui, their lone Pandaren and tavern mistress, had something special planned. Already the air was filled with the smell of meat and heavy, wild spices.

Goosebumps rose up across Alice's naked body, so she closed the shutters and stepped back from the window of her tower bedroom. It was probably a comfortable day out for others, but it felt like the onset of winter for her. The magic that coursed through her body was something she had lost control of a long time ago. She was no Kirin Tor wizard, sequestered away for half her life. She was a civilian, a housewife at that, who found after being killed, risen, and freed that she could make fire at will. After so much use, that fire now ran in her veins and turned her into a walking furnace. Thankfully, Jude didn't mind, but Alice still wondered if she or her wife or both of them might end up consumed by that growing inferno.

She turned around and looked at the bed where Jude was lying on her side. Sometime during the night, her hair had come free from its bun and now fanned out around her face and across her pillow. Alice walked over and carefully sat on the edge next to her wife, careful not to disturb the doctor. She watched Jude sleep for a moment before reaching out and running her fingertips along Jude's side. They were warm, almost hot, and made Jude squirm and shiver in her sleep. Jude's eyes fluttered open when Alice slid her hand down across her back. She arched into that hot hand with a quiet sigh. She smiled sleepily and happily up at Alice. The mage glanced over at the window in thought before she leaned down to kiss her wife. She crawled back into bed and entwined her limbs with Jude's. It wasn't as if they were going to need her help for a few hours, anyway. 

* * *

 

Aliciena sighed heavily as Jude fidgeted with and adjusted the mage's clothing. The garrison tailor had been excited about the idea of a celebration and made Alice and Jude new dresses to wear. Jude had insisted that they do it because it would show they cared. So now Alice was wrapped in charcoal gray cloth that had been dyed or sewn or something with swirls of reds and oranges. It made her look like cooling lava, which she guessed was probably appropriate. Jude was in light blue with silver accents and Alice couldn't help but admire her.

“You wear robes all the time,” Jude said with a playful smile.

“Yeah, well, that's different.”

“Humor me. How?”

“When I wear a robe, I'm a mage. That's what I'm presenting myself as, you know?” Alice said as she plucked at her dress, “and when I'm with you, I just wear normal clothes because I can just be me. But this? I'm not a mage or me in this.”

Jude gently swatted Alice's hands away from her dress before smoothing the fabric back out. Satisfied, she wrapped her arms around the little mage and kissed her on the forehead.

“Maybe you're something new then. You don't always have to switch between pyromaniac and my lover. You can try something else. Today, you can show them that you're their leader and comrade. That you're one of them.”

Alice rest her head against Jude's chest and sighed. It was hard enough to stay detached and in control of everything when she was pretending to be in command. But now she had to be a normal person among people who had never seen her that way. There was a time where she had been eager to mingle and celebrate with so many people, but she had been away from the Horde for too long and then away from her own people. Now, stuck here on an alien world, she sat even farther apart. Jude gently stroked Alice's hair.

“Alright,” Alice said quietly.

Jude drew away and opened the door with a smile. Dim green-tinged light flooded into the room and Alice sighed again as she followed Jude outside. She glanced up at the sky and the roiling dull, green clouds splashed through with black and neon. Beyond them, she was pretty certain the sky itself was no longer blue but sick and burned. It was almost like being home.

The pavillion was simple with thick pillars holding up a roof tall enough for the ogres and vrykul to fit under comfortably. Long tables and benches lined the tamped down earth, with a pair of bigger and reinforced sets for the larger races, again. Alice smiled to herself in amusement as she probably wouldn’t have remembered to be so accommodating as Foreman Cryptmold had been. Nearly the entire garrison force had gathered to celebrate. They had seated themselves in a segregated fashion that Alice hoped was nothing but the differences of food. The orc, ogre, and vrykul tables were covered in meats and strong, hard cheeses while the few elves had additional plates of fruits and this world’s version of vegetables. The Forsaken had very little in front of them and Alice felt sorry she could not provide what she knew they craved. Nearby, numerous barrels of beer, mead, and ciders had been set up by Shui, who looked tired but proud.

Jude led the way to a smaller table that sat perpendicular to the others. Kelira was standing by one of the three chairs, dressed in simple black pants and blouse trimmed with gold. She smiled faintly at Alice before quickly looking away. The elf had been hit hard by the news that they were being left behind. Nothing Alice or Jude had said or done had made a difference. Alice took her place at the center chair and made herself smile.

“Two years,” she said, raising her voice so they could all hear her, “Two years since we founded this fort. Two years of fighting for our lives against odds they said would kill us in weeks. A few days short of a year of being abandoned here, left to likely die. But we haven’t. We’ve lost many along the way. Too many. Dear friends, lovers, soldiers, and family. They were taken from us but we’ve given back a hundredfold and have not bowed or failed.

“We have done the opposite. We have flourished. This is no longer an encampment or an outpost or even a fort. This is a town. The Iron Horde and Legion have destroyed so much but we remain here, refusing to fall. We have civilians, families with children, who are trying to restart their lives. You should be proud. Every last one of you should be proud of what you have done here. I’m proud of you. If this is where we are destined to stay, to live our lives, then it is hard to think of a better place and better people.”

Alice picked up her mug and swirled around the liquid inside. She took a breath and held it up.

“To the Redgrave Contingent,” she said before taking a drink. She sighed inwardly as most of the others did the same. She was certain this drink tasted wonderful, she just wished she could tell.

“That was very good,” Jude said as Alice sat down. She leaned over and kissed the mage on her cheek.

“I’ve been practicing all week when you weren’t looking.”

Midday slowly turned to evening as the festivities went on. Barrels of drink were emptied until even the towering vrykul began to look tipsy. Instruments had appeared from somewhere and a bonfire had been lit. Alice manipulated the flames with her magic, sending streamers of sparks and embers into the air as others danced in the light. Warm orange light on the ground took the strength away from the flashing neon green lightning above. For now, things felt almost normal.

“How long do you think we can keep this up?” Kelira said quietly, looking up from her mead with bloodshot eyes.

“As long as we can,” Jude said.

“Maybe one day this will all end and we will die, but until then we will keep this up,” Alice said as she stopped playing with the fire.

“That’s easy for you to say,” the elf said, though she tensed as both Forsaken turned to look at her with glowing yellow eyes, “you got your second chance.”

The two undead woman looked at each other. With the fire behind them, Kelira couldn’t really make out their faces in the shadow, but she could see their eyes narrow. Alice hissed something the elf couldn’t understand, her language dropping from Common to the butchered tongue they called Gutterspeak in Undercity. Jude whispered back and gently caressed Alice’s cheek.

“You’re right. We got our second chance” Jude said quietly as she turned to look at the paladin, “but we got it after our first was taken from us, not after we volunteered it away.”

“You think I asked for this?”

“Perhaps not, but you knew what you were signing up for. You were aware that this was a suicide mission,” Jude said, one of her hands placed lightly over Alice’s mouth to keep the hot-headed mage quiet, “So it makes me wonder why you signed up.”

“It was different then,” said Kelira, her voice cracking very slightly.

Jude pushed Aliciena back into her seat and reached over to take Kelira’s hand. Unlike the mage, Jude’s hand held only the faintest traces of heat that she had stolen from Alice. Her skin was cold and soft and Kelira wasn’t sure how she felt about it.

“How?”

“Everything was at risk,” Kelira said with a shrug as she watched Jude’s hand, “Isn’t that what they said? If no one went to stop the Iron Horde, they’d wipe us all out? I’ve fought so hard to protect my daughters, why would I stop now?”

“Your daughters?” Jude said with surprise in her voice.

“Yes, Seddrae and Elyna. I left them with their father but now the war is back there and I am stuck here, far away from them.”

“Well, the war is far from your people,” Jude said as he pat Kelira’s hand reassuringly.

“You can’t know that.”

“No, I suppose…”

“We have no idea what’s going on there and for all I know Quel’Thalas could be burning.”

Jude drew her hand away and shook her head slowly. “I don’t really know what to say but I’m sure your family is safe.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just hard when everyone is celebrating their time here,” the elf said with a soft sigh, “It feels so hopeless. We just keep sending out scouts to find other forts from home with nothing to show for it.”

“Well, the funny thing there is that that isn’t true…”

Jude and Kelira turned to look at Alice, who sighed and scratched her nose in an attempt to look nonchalant. When she didn’t elaborate, Jude poked her hard in the side.

“Ow! Okay, calm down,” Alice said as she rubbed her ribs, “Okay, so we haven’t found a fort or anything with people from our Azeroth but we raided some ogres not too long ago. Kurok found something he thought I’d like. Didn’t know much about it, just knew it was used to travel long ways like my portals. I’ve been experimenting with it and I might be able to use it to make a way back home.”

Kelira leaned across Jude and grabbed Alice’s arm hard enough to make the skinny Forsaken wince. The elf’s bright green eyes were wide and all but brimming with desperate hope. Alice cringed a little as she looked into them.

“Why didn’t you say something?” Kelira said.

“Because I didn’t have any idea it would work. I still don’t know it it will,” Alice said as she tried unsuccessfully to free her arm, “I was going to tell you when I got it working. You’re the only reason I was trying, anyway.”

“Please, Alice, I need you to figure this out. Please try.”

Alice sighed softly and looked at Jude. The priest’s long fingers wrapped around Kelira’s and gently pried them lose from Alice’s wrist. Alice rubbed her sore arm for a moment before nodding. Kelira let out a soft cry, somewhere between a sob and a laugh and Alice felt a dark hole in the pit of her stomach. She wasn’t sure what she was going to tell this poor elf when it all failed.

 


	10. Home Again

Alice’s hands burned. They felt like someone had taken a knife and sliced deep lines down each of her fingers and across her palms that all joined at her wrists. She hadn’t looked at them because she was afraid that is exactly what she would find if she did. Instead, she stood there with her hands out, palms facing a small metal orb on the floor. Smoke was rising from the gold inlaid across its surface. The air in the room held an odd metallic tang that she could smell and taste, like the air after a bad lightning storm.

“Why don’t you work?” she said to the sphere.

The sphere did nothing. No sound, no motion, and even the smoke stopped rising from it. She grit her teeth in irritation. For hours it had been the same thing with no results. For hours it had mocked her like no other inanimate object ever had. Magic rushed from her fingertips. It was pure and unaltered, unlike the usual flames she made. That was the arcane made into something she felt more of an affinity for, but this was the arcane as it was in the void between worlds. This was the primal magic power that the universe was built on. She hated it. She hated the way it felt under her skin. She didn’t know exactly how this sphere worked but most artifacts ran off pure arcane and nothing else.

She was ready to give up when the feeling in her hands changed. No longer was she forcing power out against an unyielding wall. Instead, she felt like it was being taken from her. Her hands seared with pain but she opened up the wells of her magical power even further and felt as if something had latched onto them. The sphere began to smoke again, as it had every time she tried. Her eyes went wide when the sphere shifted. A small section of it shifted into a new location and then--

“Executor Redgrave?”

Alice lost her focus. The flow of magic broke and the sphere returned to its original state. It smoked heavily but was otherwise the same useless object it had been every other time. The air was thick with energy, enough to make the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stand on end. She swore loudly and swung her hands at the orb, lashing it with flame instead of pure arcane power. It didn’t catch fire. It didn’t react at all. When she spun around, the young male orc who had spoken was stepping backward up the stairs with wide eyes.

“What is it?” Alice said, her voice harsher than she had really intended.

“Someone is at the gate. They wanna come in but...well, you should go up there before something bad happens.”

Alice scowled at the gangly orc as she brushed past him and up the stairs. She heard him sigh as she stepped out into the bright sunlight. She wasn’t dressed for some kind of confrontation. She had planned to work all day and was dressed in ratty pants that were cut off at her knees and some kind of weird top that looked like someone had tried to combine a shirt and a vest and had failed miserably. Her arms were bare and the shirt plunged in a sharp vee that was clearly meant for someone who wasn’t flat-chested. She wore no shoes and the heat of midday baked up from the packed soil and stone. She would have preferred to be in her robes so she at least gave off some kind of presence as a mage but she figured her current level of irritation would have to do instead.

There was a small gathering near the western gate of the garrison, mostly orcs with axes and swords who were milling about. A few were standing in the watch posts atop the wall with bows drawn and arrows pointed down toward the road. Alice shoved her way through the crowd and clambered as fast as she could up the ladder to the closest post. She pushed her way in front of the orc standing there and drew in a breath to begin shouting. It caught in her throat, though, as she finally saw who it was in the road.

It was a slender figure, dressed from head to toe in dark purples and black. Their face was hidden so deeply in their cowl that Alice couldn’t even be sure they had eyes. They stood with arms folded over their chest, hips canted to the side in a nonchalant manner. Peeking from behind their legs, Alice could see the huge eyes and ears of a demonic imp. But none of that was the cause of the concern for her people. A few paces back, standing side by side so that they blocked the road, were two enormous infernals. Huge creatures of stone and held together by fel flame, demonic shock troops who could burn their way through half an army before falling. They crackled noisily and one of them let out a groaning roar that made Alice’s skin tingle unpleasantly.

“I am Alice Redgrave, Executor of this garrison and town. Who are you and why do you come to us with your demons to threaten us?”

“Oh, finally, someone I can speak to,” the figure said in a feminine voice, “I was afraid there were nothing but idiotic orcs here but I see the rumors are true.”

“What rumors?”

“That there was a Forsaken still holding out and hadn’t fled home like everyone else,” the woman said, motioning at Alice, “Now can you let me in? Don’t you know how dangerous it is out here?”

Alice frowned. There was something about this person, something in their voice that felt too familiar. “Why do you want in? You seem capable of defending yourself unless your demon friends are all just for show. And what do you mean by everyone fled home?”

“I mean exactly what I said,” the warlock said. She glanced behind her where the infernals shifted from one boulder shaped leg to the other. “How about you let me in and we can discuss it?”

The Forsaken chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before she held up her hand, two fingers raised. She had an idea. “Two conditions. No demons inside the gate and after we’re done talking about what you need, we talk about what I need.”

The woman raised her hand and waved it casually. The infernals suddenly stiffened, their bulky stone limbs moving in jerks and shudders as the flames that weaved through their bodies began to swirl upward. The green fire reached into the sky and vanished, leaving the stones to crumble to the ground with heavy thuds.

“The imp stays. He’s no threat,” the woman said, looking back up at Alice. Her fingertips lightly touched the little demon’s point ears.

“Fine, but if I see it doing anything suspicious, we’ll deal with you appropriately,” Alice said.

When the woman nodded, the mage motioned for the gate to open and Alice slipped down the ladder to meet their visitor. A few moments later, they were sitting in the mage’s study, staring at each other across a small table. The warlock had kept her cowl and mask on, but Alice could see her eyes now that they were up close. They were unsettling. She was a blood elf and, like all of her kind, her eyes were green. Unlike the others who had eyes that glowed from within but seemed almost a soft, faded hue, this woman’s blazed with the same intensity and color of fel flame. The skin around her eyes was ashy gray and dark green lines scrawled out across it like an infection.

“Why did you come here?”

“Where else would I go?” the elf said with a shrug, “LIke I said, almost everyone else is gone.”

“Gone where?”

“Back home. Or dead. A lot of them are dead.”

“So what do you want from us?”

“To go home too.”

Alice snorted out a bitter laugh. “If we could go home, do you think we’d be here?”

“Why didn’t you go back when the rest did?”

“We never got the chance,” Alice said with a shrug, “When the war back home started, we were told that all access to Azeroth was being cut off.”

“And it was but someone got word back that the Iron Horde was no longer a threat. They evacuated back home.”

“We never heard anything.”

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? If Undercity really is under attack, then they can’t afford to divert effort for such a small force like you and the other Forsaken here.”

“I imagine they wrote us off as dead, anyway.”

The elf woman looked around the study. “So, you really don’t have a way back, then.”

“Nothing certain, no.”

“Certain?”

Alice looked at the elf for a long moment, her thin fingers tapping lightly on the table. The elf fidgeted in her seat and Alice finally shrugged, letting out a low sigh.

“We found an ogre artifact. I feel like it has the ability to send us home, but I can’t power it alone,” Alice said slowly.

“What do you need?” the elf said, sitting up in her chair and leaning forward on the table.

“More power. More casters. And someone who can map out the destination in Silvermoon through the arcane.”

“I lived in Silvermoon most of my life,” the elf said, touching her fingers to her chest proudly, “and I’m fairly decent with magic, if I do say so.”

“But I don’t know who you are. How can I trust you?” Alice said with her brows raised, “Plus, I know how you get eyes like that.”

The elf narrowed her eyes briefly. “Maybe you can’t trust me. But I need your help and you seem like you need mine. How many other mages do you have? Any at all?”

“One,” Alice said as she folded her arms over her chest.

“How well can they map with the arcane?”

“She can’t.”

“Then it seems like this is the only option for us both.”

Alice stood up and looked down at the elf. “I know and I hate that I cannot do this myself. So, here is the deal: step out of line at all and I will personally cook you and feed you to my troops. If I see any fel magic, if I sense it or smell it, I will make you regret ever coming here.”

“Understood,” the elf said, leaning back in her seat away from Alice. The Forsaken could hear the smirk in the elf’s voice.

“Do you have a name?”

“Azrine.”

Alice smiled and held out her hand. The elf took it gingerly. Alice’s skin was hot as always, but the elf gave off a warmth that made Alice think of sickness and disease. Fel magic was something Alice was familiar with, but she didn’t like it. The sensation of it always brought back the worst of memories.

“Well, Azrine, why don’t we see if we can’t get ourselves back home?”

 


	11. Farewell

Jude sat cross-legged on her bed as she watched Alice and the corrupted elf work. Dozens of parchments were scattered across the table and even the floor, all of them covered in intricate designs. Interlinking circles, long lines of runes, and criss-crossing lines had been drawn across all of them. Even better and more amazing to Jude was the fact that they were never the same when she looked at them. The designs moved and changed on their own.

Alice had tried to explain it to her. They were maps, she said, but that was all she really knew. Azrine the fel elf tried to expand on it. They were arcane maps of the spaces between worlds, plotting out pathways through the darkness beyond the sky. And these were even more complicated because they had to map a way through time itself as well. It all made Jude’s head cloudy. She asked Alice how she knew all of this but Alice just shrugged.

“I don’t,” the mage said, “and I don’t understand it. But I can see it.”

“Did you have to do all this to get me here?” Jude said as she peered at Alice’s newest map.

“No...I didn’t. We were still linked with home at that time. The mages back in Undercity were powering a connection of sorts, so I could just sort of do it by feel. And since it was just you, it didn’t take nearly as much power as this will.”

“Wait, that gives me an idea,” Azrine said, looking up from her own maps, “why don’t we try and find that link again? We can trace it backward to our Azeroth.”

“Even if there is still a hint of it, it’d be so weak…”

Jude began to zone out again, her eyes glazing over as the other two began their earnest talk. The only reason she was even there was because Alice had been so busy that Jude had barely gotten to see her. Plus, she didn’t trust the elf. Jude and Alice had discussed her and agreed that the elf was far too power hungry to be fully trusted. She had been siphoning off fel magic and making pacts with demons so much that she had twisted herself into a mockery of what the Blood Elves now held themselves to be. Jude wasn’t even sure how Azrine was going to manage going back into the elf society in her current state. She clearly intended to, though, and that seemed to be keeping her focused and eager on the job. For now, at least.

Days passed and Jude kept watch for as much as she could. Alice had thrown herself so hard and deep into the work that Jude was concerned. If the elf decided to do something dangerous or threatening toward Alice, would she even notice? So when Jude felt that strange tingling sensation across her skin and saw the strangeness that occurred when magic ripped a hole in reality, she let out a sigh of relief. Weeks of mapping and trial and failing and re-mapping finally seemed to have paid off and maybe it was almost over.

 

Jude stood at the back of the room, doing her best to stay out of the way. Alice, Azrine, and an elderly looking Forsaken man whom Jude did not know were standing in a triangle around a metal orb that could fit comfortably in one of Jude’s hands. It sat on a large parchment that was covered in ever-shifting streams of runes and slowly turning circles. Others had crowded into the room as well with Kelira at the front. Behind her were a number of Forsaken and orcs from their Azeroth, all waiting and hoping to go home.

Alice looked nervous and Jude smiled at her when she looked over. The mage smiled back weakly, but when the three casters all raised their hands toward the orb, Alice’s face set in concentration. Streams of blue and lavender light began to twist from her and the other’s fingers, swirling out toward the orb. It shifted in its spot, rolling back and forth slightly before it began to lift into the air. Smoke rose from it and lines started to glow across its surface. She realized that it was made of many, many pieces all perfectly fit together to create a nearly perfect sphere. The pieces moved and impossibly changed positions with each other while still maintaining the shape of the orb. The air in the room crackled with arcane energy and Jude could feel it all the way in the pit of her stomach. The power built upon itself over and over again so that it felt like it was pressing down upon everyone in the room until, finally, the air around the orb was torn asunder. The rip was jagged and flickering, but Jude was certain she could see trees beyond it.

“Kelira, go,” Alice said breathlessly, “and if you aren’t back in five minutes, we’re closing the portal.”

The paladin said nothing but stepped forward. In three strides, she collided with the portal and vanished from view. Jude rubbed her hands together, twisting her fingers around each other nervously as she waited. She saw Alice grit her teeth as she continued to power the strange portal. Minutes passed by and the casters looked at each other while the crowd shifted uncertainly. Azrine opened her mouth to speak but, before she could, Kelira was back. The paladin was panting heavily, sweat standing out on her forehead.

“Your aim was off,” she said as she tried to gulp down air, “I ended up outside the city, but it worked. It’s home. It’s been four years, but it’s home.”

An excited murmuring filled the room and Alice grinned at Jude. With a small gesture, the mage motioned for those gathered to go through. Nearly thirty people shuffled their way through, one by one, and vanished without a trace. Kelira stood by and watched, waiting until she was the last one. She moved to stand near Alice, looking the Forsaken in the eyes. After a moment, she reached out and placed her hand on Alice’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” the paladin said quietly, “and don’t stay here too long.”

Alice only smiled as Kelira vanished. With the last person gone, the three casters stopped channeling their magic. The portal vanished and the orb fell to the ground with a loud clang. It stopped smoking and the glowing lines vanished. Alice sank down onto the floor next to it, rubbing her hands over her face. Jude walked over to her and laid her hands on her wife’s shoulders, gently rubbing them. The doctor looked up at Azrine, who still stood and looked down at the pair with her bright green eyes.

“I thought you were going too,” Jude said with a frown.

“Well, I wanted to but I honestly don’t think Silvermoon is the best place for me to go,” Azrine said as she shook her head, “I wouldn’t get a very nice welcome, I imagine.”

“So what are you going to do, then?”

Alice leaned her head back on Jude’s shoulder and sighed. “We are going to make a map to Lordaeron. I think it’s time to go home, Jude.”

“What about everyone here?” Jude said. She draped her arms around Alice and held her close.

“I don’t know. Maybe we’ll send them to our Orgrimmar, but what more can we do here?” Alice said. “I need to rest before we can decide anything else.”

Jude stood and helped Alice to her feet. She slipped an arm around the mage’s waist and led her up the stairs and back outside. The sky overhead was bright even though it was filled with clouds, the green tinge of it skewing the way the world around her looked. She remembered the day the sky changed colors. She remembered the day the infernals fell from the sky like meteors. She remembered the messenger who claimed that demons were flooding out of the Tanaan jungle. She remembered the first of many stands against the demons who came to take their garrison and their lives. They had been lucky. They were far away from the Iron Citadel, the heart of the Iron Horde and the Burning Legion, so they had been overlooked after the early days. She agreed with Alice that they needed to go home, but could they really leave anyone here on a dying world?

  
  


“We’ll just take everyone with us,” Alice said, her hands raised in resignation on the matter. “What choice do we have? Jude is right, we can’t just leave people here. Anyone who doesn’t want to stay in Lordaeron can go north to Silvermoon and go wherever they please.”

Azrine looked irritated and glared at Alice and Jude from across the table. Jude reached under the table, her hand finding Alice’s. She gave it a gentle squeeze and laced their fingers together. Jude had no love for the orcs that manned the garrison under Alice’s command, but she was no monster. They had worked hard and done their best to keep Alice and everyone safe and whole. Leaving them on Draenor would be a betrayal.

“Fine,” Azrine said as she stood abruptly, “but this whole ordeal just keeps getting more pointlessly complicated.”

“I will tell them today and we’ll set up in the courtyard in two days. That’ll give everyone enough time to get ready,” Alice said, ignoring the blistering gaze of the fel elf.

Azrine nodded curtly. Her face was still mostly hidden behind her cowl and mask, but her eyes were lit up with emotion. Jude didn’t understand why she was so angry but it made her suspect something.

“I think she’s up to something,” Jude said quietly after Azrine had left the room.

“Probably,” Alice said.

“Are you worried?”

“No. I don’t think she’d jeopardize her own way home.”

Jude nodded and leaned over to kiss Alice on the cheek. “What are we going to do? Can we stay in Lordaeron with the war going?”

“I don’t know,” Alice said with a sigh.

“We could travel. Go anywhere. As long as I’m with you, I’m happy.”

Alice smiled and leaned her forehead against Jude’s. Both women closed their eyes and slid their arms around each other. Their lives were going to be their own again.

 

The three spellcasters stood in their triangle again, each focusing on the metal orb that was hovering a few feet in the air. This time they stood outside under the burning green sky and everyone still remaining in the garrison surrounded them. There were a few who were choosing to stay. Most of them were from Draenor and felt wrong abandoning their home. A few were from Azeroth and felt that this world was where they truly belonged. Alice seemed uncomfortable leaving them while knowing they stood no chance against the dangers of the world, but she would not force them. She had handed over command of the garrison and the remaining troops to Kurok the ogre.

Jude felt the magic in the air rise again as it had the previous time until the hair on her arms stood on end. The air around the orb twisted and contorted until it could take no more and ripped open. Jude drew in a breath and thought she could smell Tirisfal on the other side. When the portal was stable, Alice motioned for the first of the crowd to walk through.

It was a subdued affair. There was no cheering or rejoicing in the crowd. They stepped through slowly, one at a time or in pairs. Those from Draenor stepped through carrying the remnants of their lives in bags and the occasional small cart pulled behind them. Forsaken, orcs, and trolls marched through. A handful of goblins followed. A lone pandaren. Two vrykul. As the crowd thinned, the garrison looked more desolate. Jude looked back at those who were staying and it sank in just how bleak their future was. They were essentially choosing to die and choosing to do it here.

When the last of those waiting stepped through, Alice motioned for the other Forsaken mage to follow. He grunted in effort as he pushed as much power into the portal as he could before breaking his connection with the orb. The portal pulsed slightly. It shrank inward before returning to its original size. The man picked up a nearby bag and stepped into the fissure in space and vanished. Alice motioned to Azrine next. The elf smiled at Alice, nodded at Jude, and then stepped into the nothingness of the portal. Her imp was clinging to her skirts as they both disappeared.

Jude picked up her bags, straining a little under the weight of the books they had jammed into the satchels. She moved up to stand next to Alice. The mage was forcing all of her power into the portal and Jude could feel it coming off of her in waves.

“Are you ready?” Alice said through gritted teeth.

Jude just nodded. She picked up Alice’s bags and carefully draped them over her wife’s shoulders, careful as she could be not to disrupt. Alice let out a small cry of effort before she grabbed Jude’s hand and pulled the doctor with her into the portal. Everything vanished from sight around them. Jude could no longer see Alice even though their fingers were laced tightly together. She felt as if a great weight was pressing in on her from every side while the very core of her being was trying to explode back outward. She felt like she was being twisted away from herself into long spirals. It lasted for minutes, for hours, for days, maybe for weeks and, before she knew it, it was over. The ground was beneath her feet and her lungs were full of air. Alice stood next to her in a dark and empty clearing in the middle of the woods.

“Where...where is everyone?” Jude said quietly as she pulled closer to Alice.

A deep and echoing roar cut through the air before Alice could answer. The clearing lit up with brilliant light as green fire streaked over their heads. They said nothing to each other. They knew all too well what it was. Dropping their bags to the ground, they sprinted across the clearing and through the trees. Alice was quicker, scrambling her way up a hill out to the edge of the woods. Jude heard her let out a distressed moan. The doctor chewed the inside of her cheek and slowed down, no longer wanting to see what was beyond the forest. She could see the sky above the horizon now and it was smoldering with green flame and choked with smoke.

“Oh, Jude, what happened?” Alice said in a hoarse whisper as Jude stopped next to her. “I don’t understand.”

Jude put her arms around Alice. It was all she could think to do. The little mage buried her face against Jude’s chest. Despite the heat that always baked off her, Alice was shivering and Jude felt a deep coldness settling into her own chest. Another roar tore through the silent air as a second streak of green slashed across the smoke filled sky. It crashed far beyond them, smashing into the ground and throwing up a plume of dirt. From within it rose a creature made of stone and corrupted flame, a massive demonic infernal that let loose another thundering cry. More fell beyond it in the cratered field that had once been the town of Brill, each of them turning to walk toward the conflagration on the horizon.

The Legion had come to Azeroth once again.

Tirisfal was no more. Undercity was burning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to wrap this story up because it had become disjointed. The original story didn't include the trip to Draenor, but I thought it would be an interesting angle to try. Unfortunately, Alice really isn't a leader. At all. So, I feel it is better to close this one up than to try and force it to continue.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has read. For those who like Alice and Jude, I plan to work on a followup to this with better planning.


End file.
